The history of nursing dates back to 1844. With it's founder being, Florence Nightingale, much to the disapproval of her parents she left England with a few dozen other women, to care for the sick and injured soldiers during the Crimean War.
Florence Nightingale, is also famously known as the "Lady with the Lamp" she acquired this nickname, while caring for the soldiers. As she was the only nurse on duty at night, she would go around to each solider with her lamp to check on them.
Besides being the founder of nursing as a profession, she is accredited with other accomplishments.
* She developed what is known today as the "pie chart," she used this chart to analyze the amount of deaths from certain diseases.
* She created methods for sterilizing medical equipment and insisted that sanitary conditions were important to fight against infections.
* In 1860 she founded the first nursing school in England. "Nightingale School and Home for Nurses."
Following in the footsteps of the first nurse, other nurses have made significant donations of their own to the nursing profession.
Clara Barton, another well known nurse in history, nursed the sick and injured soldiers during the Civil War. She also founded the American Red Cross.
Linda Richards, is the first student to graduate from a United States Nursing Program. Her diploma can be seen at the "Smithsonian." She also created a charting system to track each patients, diagnosis, medications and prognosis. Which over the decades has continually been built upon, to what you would find in a hospital today.
Josephine A. Dolan, was the first nursing instructor in a United States Nursing program, at "UCONN." She taught for over 35 years. In her memory, a former student started a school in Nepal, called the "Josephine A. Dolan School of Nursing."
Over the years, nursing has seen a great deal of progress and for many years was seen as a woman's job. However, before Florence Nightingale, men were predominantly the nurses, they were called care takers. It's nice to see that men have rejoined the nursing field again.
As medical technology continues to grow at a rapid rate, nurses are being required to take on more and more responsibility for their patients. It will be interesting to see in the next few decades, to what level the role of the nurse will expand to.
Sources
www.advance.uconn
www.about.com