The Nursing Profession

Cinema, MD ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 25-46
Author(s):  
Eelco F.M. Wijdicks
Keyword(s):  
History Of Medicine ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
Feature Films ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Of Nursing

This chapter explores the different roles of nurses in the history of cinema- from the kind Florence Nightingale to the wicked Nurse Ratched. It is appropriate to ask whether a portrayal is inspiring or off-putting or merely cheap amusement. Nurses in cinema were sweetened and idealized in the late 1930s and 1940s. Films about nurses focused on romantic flings with doctors. Other depictions were misogynistic caricatures and shallow fantasies. Filmmakers seldom portrayed the nursing profession as disciplined and committed because this is not cinematic. It was more interesting to have the nurse look attractive and be courted. However, there are notable exceptions. This chapter recognizes the major role of nursing in the history of medicine and provides context to well-known feature films.

scholarly journals Foundations of the aspect of health care and two hundred years since the birth of Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Damir Peličić
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Council ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

Nursery has existed throughout history and it dates back to the very beginning of humankind. It was mentioned in church books and other written texts but not as a skill or science, but as an occupation reserved for the members of monastic orders, and also for women, that is, mothers, and nuns. First, nursing was an occupation, then a skill, but at the end of the 20th century, it became a scientific discipline. Florence Nightingale is certainly one of the most significant women in the history of nursing, medicine, and society in general because she is the pioneer of the nursing profession that has continuity up to nowadays. She was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy and died on August 13, 1910, in London. Florence Nightingale worked as a nurse, organizer, researcher, statistician, reformer, writer and a teacher. She reformed nursery and public health. In 1860, she established the school for nurses within St. Thomas' Hospital and she took care of every protégé. In spite of all obstacles, which she was faced with, and the unenviable position of women in the 19th century, she made a huge move that changed the context of this profession forever. She had a huge influence on the Swiss philanthropist Henry Dunant (1828-1910), who was the founder of the Red Cross. In 1867, the International Council of Nurses proclaimed that her birthday would be the International Nurses Day. She was the first woman who was awarded the Medal of virtues. In 1908, she was conferred the Order of Merit by King Edward. She wrote more than 200 books and the Pledge.

Florence Nightingale's legacy on the role of men in community nursing

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 302-306
Author(s):  
Thomas Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Differential Treatment ◽  
Community Nursing ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
Gender Perceptions ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Of Men

Florence Nightingale is credited with reforming the profession of nursing, and her teachings allowed nursing to be perceived as an almost exclusively female career. However, the long history of men's role in nursing before Nightingale is frequently ignored. Males currently account for one in ten UK nurses, with that figure even less in community nursing, and the ones present receive differential treatment when it comes to hiring and promotion, career opportunities, and stigma associated with gender perceptions. This article attempts to gain a better understanding of the problems that face workforce planning with regards to the lack of men in community nursing.

Medicine and Health in the Graeco-Roman World

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip van der Eijk
Keyword(s):  
History Of Medicine ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Health Characteristic ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
Roman Medicine

This article focuses on a number of developments that have made the place of Graeco-Roman medicine in surveys of the history of medicine. A further development discussed is that medical history now also prominently includes the topic of health, both physical and mental health and related topics such as lifestyle, quality of life, well-being, fitness, and ‘flourishing’. It identifies a number of different mental states or conditions on a scale from an optimum to a pessimum, and thus presents a good example of the scalar, gradualist view of health characteristic of Greek medicine. This article shows philosophy competing with medicine for the role of authoritative guide to health, mental as well as physical, and diagnostic as well as therapeutic. The study of Graeco-Roman medicine has profited significantly from connections and comparisons with the study of the history of medicine, science, and culture from other time frames and other parts of the world.

scholarly journals Put Out Your Tongue! The Role of Clinical Insight in the Study of the History of Medicine

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
History Of Medicine ◽  
Medical Practitioner ◽  
Retrospective Diagnosis ◽  
Medical Progress ◽  
History Of

Historians of medicine are often gloomily familiar with clinicians' incursions into their intellectual arena. We physicians offer hagiographic biographies of obscure nineteenth-century medical figures, triumphalist narratives of medical progress and – the most heinous offence – retrospective diagnosis of ailments afflicting historical characters. But clinicians have also offered some excellent insights to the discipline. As a medical practitioner, I intend to argue that clinical insight can be valuable; not in providing answers – here, clinicians' contemporary interpretations of disease and its treatment can lead us to become unstuck – but in raising questions which might not occur to historians.

Capturing Nursing History With Creative Writing: Two Exemplars

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-146
Author(s):  
Jacqueline K. Owens
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Early History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Nursing History ◽  
Narrative Poetry ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
History Of

Florence Nightingale formally documented much of the early history of the nursing profession, a goal that remains important today to guide our practice. Many nurse scholars have published detailed accounts of historical research. Story-based narratives can be especially effective to describe the contributions of individual nurses in a way that resonates with nurses and lay readers. Two nurses, Terri Arthur and Jeanne Bryner, have successfully disseminated stories of nurses through creative writing. This article describes their journeys to capture nursing history using historical narrative, poetry, and reflective prose.

How one mad scientist grasped the profound potential of humor and changed the face of nursing

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-337
Author(s):  
Karyn Buxman
Keyword(s):  
Health Profession ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Humor Theory ◽  
Mad Scientist ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Nursing ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The history of nursing and the history of humor theory become intertwined with the help of a look-alike-mad-scientist, Dr Paul McGhee. A review is given as to how McGhee played the role of catalyst, pioneer and mentor to many in the health profession and the impact that has resulted in the nursing profession.

scholarly journals Re-imagining Bleeders: The Medical Leech in the Nineteenth Century Bloodletting Encounter

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G.W. Kirk ◽  
Neil Pemberton
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
History Of Medicine ◽  
Medical History ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Central Object ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Do So

While some historians have noted the absence of animals in medical history, few have made the animal the central object of their historical gaze. Twenty years ago W.F. Bynum urged medical historians to follow historians of science in paying attention to the role of non-human animals in the material practices of medicine. Yet few have responded to his call. In this paper we again ask the question: what work can the non-human animal achieve for the history of medicine? We do so in the light of the conceptual possibilities opened up by the rapidly emerging field of ‘animal studies’. This interdisciplinary and sophisticated body of work has, in various ways, revealed the value of the ‘animal’ as a tool for exploring the co-constitution of species identity. We asked ourselves, surely, in our present biomedical world, this must be an area that we as medical historians are best placed to comment on; and what better place to start than the well-known, yet surprisingly little-studied, medical leech?

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