Florence Nightingale Research Paper

In early civilizations, the mother was usually the nurse. She would provide care to her family through herbal remedies or physical care. In ancient Greek civilizations, nurses would care for people in the community or their home. Some nurses would also be midwives. It wasn’t until the early Christian period that nursing started to develop a more formal and defined role in society, and during this time both male and female nursing orders were founded. During the Crusades, from the 11th century to the 13th century there were many large hospitals built to provide care for the enormous number of pilgrims allowing nursing to become a respected vocation (Taylor, Lillis, & Lynn, 2015, p.7). After the Crusades, Western societies became less religiously

Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 and began training as a nurse when she was 31. She is best known for the care that she implemented in a hospital during the Crimean War. Upon her arrival at the hospital, she identified various conditions that needed remediation. These conditions included overcrowding, uncleanliness, high mortality rate, and poor ventilation. She started recording patient care and began collecting data on patient outcomes. By implementing changes in these conditions, the death rate decreased to 2.2% from 42.7% (Miracle, 2008). After the war, she returned to Great Britain where she went on to teach nursing and taught other nursing educators. Miracle tells

The nurses' primary role is that of a caregiver where they are providing care directly to a patient. The nurse must also be a good communicator, not only to interact with the patient but to communicate effectively with the patient and the healthcare team. Another role is that of teacher/educator; here the nurse is educating the patient based on their needs. Nurses must also be good counselors; they need to be able to counsel the patient and know when to find appropriate help. Leadership is a vital role of the nurse if the nurse is not an effective leader they will not be able to take charge of a situation and delegate responsibility effectively. Not only do nurse’s perform research but they also should always be striving to learn new things through research. The patient’s greatest advocate is the nurse; the nurse must always be aware of the patient’s legal rights. The nurse also works with a healthcare team and must be a good collaborator to help the patient receive the most optimal