The idea of nursing has been around for several years. However, the role of nurses as we know them today was first recognized in the 16th Century. Boulton (2007) reports a widow, Ellen Wright, of St. Botolph Aldgate (London) who, from 1588-1599 took sick people and pregnant women into her house and cared for them. Today, we are influenced by the ubiquity of Florence Nightingale, who changed the concept of nursing. This extraordinary woman transformed the view of nursing not only for the general community, but for professional nurses themselves. According to Nightingale, nursing was no longer just about taking care of sick patients, but instead about being aware of the patients’ needs and going above and beyond the basics in order to meet those needs. Nowadays nursing involves two diverse sides. It is considered both an art and a science. The opposition between science and art has existed from the beginning of modern nursing. Nightingale championed the view of nursing as a moral art, while Fenwick argued for registration and insisted that nursing was an independent profession allied with science and technology. Peplau states clearly that art values subjectivity and involvement while science emphasizes objectivity and detachment. Nurses often have struggled to achieve a theoretical stance between art and science that permits appropriate and skillful help. An attempt to claim both these paradigms has produced abundant discourse, diversity of opinion, and heightened awareness to alternatives, which is evident in the nursing literature. The science of nursing is possibly the most evident. Professional nurses need to have a decent understanding of health terms, medications, and therapeutic procedures to perform the best possible care for a client. In addition, nurses must distinguish the signs and symptoms of different diseases in order to comprehend patient’s needs and appropriately treat the client. It is also very important to know about the needed and benign quantity of medications for the patients because it might mean the difference among life, health and death. As treatments are constantly updated, professional nurses have to be updated on new guidelines, practices, and techniques to treat certain illness. Nurses should also be trained to use fresh technologies, such as, new forms of electronic medical archives and diagnostic tools. After analyzing all these facts, it is not difficult to realize why nursing is considered a science, and its importance in the process of takng care of a client. To many nurses, the word ” science” is more likely to be associated with medicine than nursing. To understand science in a nursing context we must examine what science is and what it is not. The primary aim for the development of science is to expand a body of knowledge. This increasing knowledge then underpins and informs the thinking and practice of a particular discipline. Scientific methods have been developed and refined, permitting issues previously beyond the bounds of scientific investigation to be addressed. The scope of scientific endeavor has expanded enormously in recent decades with the acceptance of qualitative methods and computer based data analysis. Developing the science of nursing cannot be viewed within the realms of a traditional medical paradigm, or be confused with the goals of medical scientific method. Medical science has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to health, though as one commentator suggests, the quest for Verb 1. quest for – go in search of or hunt for; ” pursue a hobby” quest after, go after, pursuelook for, search, seek – try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; ” The police are searching for clues”; ” They are searching for the objective truth limits the scope of this science to methodologies that have increasingly become reliant on technological tools. As a consequence, the need to ” re-tool” has become the primary focus of further scientific development. Technological advances in nursing often provide practical aids with which nurses can enhance their relationship with, and caring for people. As nurses, we have no need to emphasize technology over art, or become so enamored enamoured or US enamoredAdjectiveenamoured ofa. in love withb. very fond of and impressed by: he is not enamoured of Moscow [Latin amor love] with science we become narrow minded in our methods of Inquiry necessary to mature the body of nursing science. Contributions to the advance of nursing knowledge do not always seek to verify truth, although this may be appropriate in some circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or . Nursing science aims to generate and test extant ex·tantadj. 1. Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct: extant manuscripts. 2. Archaic Standing out; projecting. theory, discover meaning and to develop a growing knowledge with which to articulate the work we do. Nursing science has been described as, ” a scholarly adventure, one guided by purpose undertaken with boldness, sense of freedom and creativity, merged intellectual rigor rigor /rig·or/ (rig´er) [L.] chill; rigidity. rigor mor´tis the stiffening of a dead body accompanying depletion of adenosine triphosphate in the muscle fibers. and integrity”. After exploring why nursing could be considered a science, it is important to analyze why it might be considered an art, too. Nursing is much more than simply the understanding of health information. Besides understanding the information on a client’s chart, good nurses should be able to transfer that information to the client and his/her family members in an accomplished and polite way. For this reason, communication is a crucial skill for nurses. Also, a good nurse is able to realize the needs of the patient because the nurse is the one in direct contact with him/her. The nurse is a caregiver, a listener, an advocate, and an educator for patients. Many nurse writers agree there are elements of nursing that are artful art·fuladj. 1. Exhibiting art or skill: ” The furniture is an artful blend of antiques and reproductions” Michael W. Robbins. 2. . More rigorous debate tends to occur when the finer meaning of the word ” art” is applied to the nursing context. One writer describes art to be applicable to nursing in the everyday sense. Art is about the whole of the nursing experience and not a distinctly separate part of it. Because nursing involves people in a variety of settings and situations, effectiveness is dependent on the quality of those interactions. The art of nursing will often be practiced practisedAdjectiveexpert or skilled because of long experience in a skill or field: the doctor answered with a practised smoothnessAdj. 1. in environments that are unpredictable and spontaneous, requiring the nurse to be creative in her/his response to individual client needs, hence the term art is used. Additional aspects of nursing considered artful are the knowledge, judgment and skill exercised by nurses in their everyday practice. Nurses develop the ability to sense, feel, perceive and know how to deliver care in ways that increasingly demonstrate mastery in their field. Nursing has also been described as a helping art and one that is able to empower empower verb To encourage or provide a person with the means or information to become involved in solving his/her own problems and transform situations with clients toward favorable health changes. The great psychiatric psy·chi·at·ricadj. Of or relating to psychiatry. psychiatric adjective Pertaining to psychiatry, mental disorders nursing theorist the·o·ristn. One who theorizes; a theoretician.
theorist
a person who forms theories or who specializes in the theory of a particular subject. See also: Ideas, Learning
Noun 1.
….. Click the link for more information. Hildegard Peplau described three major components of nursing art–medium, process and product. The medium is the art of bringing about change towards health through activating the potential of clients. The process is the interaction that is initiated by the nurse and moves towards an end point, which may include the application of technical skill. The product aspects of art are described as the improved functioning of the client that may or may not include observable ob·serv·a·bleadj. 1. Possible to observe: observable phenomena; an observable change in demeanor. See Synonyms at noticeable. 2. outcomes. As a complement to the demonstrable de·mon·stra·bleadj. 1. Capable of being demonstrated or proved: demonstrable truths. 2. Obvious or apparent: demonstrable lies…… Click the link for more information. aspects of art, outcomes in practice can also be legitimately intangible. The arts of caring and practicing intuitively, for example, could be described as elusive elements of nursing that can lead to health change. Such change can also remain private to a client, who may not share this with the nurse. Although the outward expression of art in nursing is not uniform, an iterative it·er·a·tiveadj. 1. Characterized by or involving repetition, recurrence, reiteration, or repetitiousness. 2. Grammar Frequentative. Noun 1. process of scholarly debate will help us to understand the artistic parameters of our profession. This will add to existing knowledge, and the implementation of art in everyday practice. In conclusion, the profession of nursing has gone through an extended way from the time when Florence Nightingale started to influence it. After adding technology and improving nursing education, the nursing profession has become very respectable. Nowadays, nurses are one of the most important elements in patient’s recovery. Nurses work a lot and save human lives with awareness and respect. Patients often consider nurses as more than only health care providers. Nurses are caregivers, educators, and friends. As we continue the journey to a consensus of role and function, we must nurture NURTURE. The act of taking care of children and educating them: the right to the nurture of children generally belongs to the father till the child shall arrive at the age of fourteen years, and not longer. Till then, he is guardian by nurture. Co. Litt. 38 b. our art and develop our science. The maturation maturation /mat·u·ra·tion/ (mach-u-ra´shun)1. the process of becoming mature. 2. attainment of emotional and intellectual maturity. 3. of a body of unique nursing knowledge will provide nurses with the foundation from which to take a lead role in the future of health careNew Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4, 035, 000), 104, 454 sq mi (270, 534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1, 000 mi (1, 600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. . Many more nurses are creating their art and practicing their science on a daily basis without any formal recognition. These creative and scholarly abilities must continue to be exercised and celebrated, so nurses can demonstrate not only their tangible skill, but also articulate the nursing knowledge that has led to these skills being developed. Shields, L. (2013). A personal essay on the role of the nurse. Contemporary Nurse, 43(2), 213+. Retrieved from http://go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id= GALE%7CA323658621&v= 2. 1&u= lincclin_mdcc&it= r&p= AONE&sw= wDiabetes education; art, science, and evidence. (2012, December). Reference & Research Book News. Retrieved from http://go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id= GALE%7CA312256370&v= 2. 1&u= lincclin_mdcc&it= r&p= AONE&sw= wSmith, A. (2009, June 10). Exploring the legitimacy of intuition as a form of nursing knowledge. Nursing Standard, 23(40), 35-41. Retrieved April 15, 2013, from Nursing and Allied Health Collection via Gale: http://find. galegroup. com/nrcx/start. do? prodId= NRC