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Nursing Today versus in the Past

The profession of nursing has evolved significantly throughout history. The profession

has transition from a “helping field” to a professional field with medical and health care

qualifications. The following is an examination of the ways in which nursing today is a reflection

of an evolved profession.

When nursing practice began, it involved much less medical training than it does today.

To be a nursing professional had more to do with a person’s gender and their desire to help

patients. Mothers and women took the role of “caretakers” in society; hence, nursing activities

were just an extension of this role. The origins of nursing as a profession ate fairly recent.

Florence Nightingale is often credited as the founder of professional nursing. In the 19th century,

during the Crimean war, Nightingale provided assistance at a Turkish military hospital

(Pfettscher, 2021). The difference her work as a nurse made convinced people of the importance

of the role of the professional nurse in health care. Even then, nursing still remained significantly

different from what it is today.

The profession started to grow closer to what it is today when nursing training was

introduced. The first training programs for nurses started in the late 19th century. This is when

nurses started to be trained on providing quality and safe care. This also came with the

humanization of health care to improve patient experiences. Hospitals still started to require

skilled nurses in the early to mid-20th century. However, professional was still not as developed

as it is today. The first nursing accredited program was only started in 1960 (Wierzbicka, 2019).

Thus, the profession still did not include a lot of college trained nurses. In comparison, nurses

today need to have at least an associate degree to practice. To be a nurse practitioner, one needs

at least a bachelor’s degree.

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When comparing nursing then versus now, it is clear that the respect for the importance

of the role of the professional nurse is one of the main things that have changed. Before, nursing

was not a profession, it was just an extension of the expected caring role of the women. Today,

nursing is not a gendered profession, it is practiced by both men and women. It is also more

respected as a profession. The medical field and society at large have grown to understand the

important role that nurses play in the medical field. Nursing today also emphasizes a lot on

quality and safety. In the past, nurses just helped how they saw fit, but today there are procedures

that must be followed. These procedures are taught through professional training, which is also

fairly recent. Nurses today need to have both sufficient education and training to be allowed to

care for the health of patients.

In conclusion, nursing is still an evolving field. There has been a lot of change over the

past few centuries that differentiate nursing then versus now. One word that can be used to

define the key difference between then and now is “professional”. Nurses today play an

important professional role instead of being just helpers of doctors and other medical

professionals.
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References

Pfettscher, S. A. (2021). Florence Nightingale: modern nursing. Nursing Theorists and Their

Work E-Book, 52.

Wierzbicka, I. B. (2019). Nursing-history and development of the profession. Journal of

Education, Health and Sport, 9(9), 121-129.