Timeline by Amanda Miller

1881

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 18:34:23 UTC

The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in 1881. I shared a picture of Clara Barton to depict an influential female in nursing history- throughout nursing's whole history are strong and influential women. The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization dedicated to providing disaster relief, blood donations, and support to military members and their families. Clara is often referred to as the "Angel of the Battlefield" for her work during the Civil War.

Pre 1700's- Prehistoric Nursing- Egypt

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 18:42:25 UTC

In ancient Egypt, health care professions such as physician or healers were established; these healers were typically priests. This picture depicts a healer caring for an individual. The priests acted as a link between humans and gods and the Egyptians believed that people had to make the Gods happy to have good health and to be in a peace of mind. The ancient Egyptians physicians used environmental herbals for healing. This relates to the other images in this timeline as it depicts a moment of healthcare- each pictures show healthcare at that time and we are able to see how it continually evolves.

The Civil War Period (1861-1865)

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 18:44:14 UTC

The Foundation of nursing during the Civil War was largely laid by Dorothea Dix. Dorothea was made the Superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union Army, which allowed women to officially volunteer as nurses. By allowing them to volunteer this established a system for their service in military hospitals, marking a significant milestone towards the professionalization of nursing in the United States. Many nurses during this time lacked formal training and learned on site. They often provided the soldiers with compassion and were a support to them. The Civil War significantly increased public awareness of the need for trained nurses, this helped to pave the way for the development of formal nursing schools.

This image symbolizes a nurse working amongst the soldiers during this time period.
Civil war nursing influenced nursing today by establishing standards for clean and safe hospitals- today we are constantly improving our standards to improve safe patient care. Civil war created a need for nursing- today in instances of staffing shortage nurses are continually needed. The civil war also highlighted the need of a trained nursing force. Post pandemic it has been seen that today trained nurses are essential in proper patient care and to keep our nation healthy.

2023- Fox News portrayal of nursing

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 19:07:57 UTC

This fox news article discusses unengaged nurses at work and goes on to give ways to combat burnout at work. Burnout amongst nurses is at all time high while working through the current nursing shortage. By telling the public that more than half of the nurses are unengaged while at work, they may be afraid to seek care or feel as though they are not receiving adequate care. This article states "engaged nurses play it safe on the job" insinuating that many are often not receiving safe care. This relates to the other images as with nurse burnout it shows a challenging time in nursing history.

2020- COVID 19 Pandemic

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 19:08:50 UTC

This image is taken from the COVID 19 pandemic. This was a time of much uncertainty in the healthcare field. Nurses faced challenges like personal protective equipment shortages, changing protocols, staffing shortages and dealing with new and unknown patient conditions. During this time people were incredibly sick and many deaths occurred while physicians worked to find a way to treat this new virus. This picture relates to the other as it depicts struggles in nursing. During each time period nurses faced new and unique struggles and much effort had to be put forth in order to improve the circumstances.

Virgin River- portrayal of nurses

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 19:12:33 UTC

The Virgin River depicts a positive portrayal of nursing. The main character, a nurse practitioner and a midwife named Melinda, manages everything from postpartum depression to providing care to a gunshot victim. She is one of the most trusted members of their small towns and provides excellent and thorough care. This television show is still current and releasing new seasons, but I provided here the official trailer of it to depict the shows beginnings. This relates to the other time periods as it displays that one prominent figure in nursing can have a profound impact, whether that be good or bad. We as nurses have the ability to greatly impact individuals and our community and that is exactly what Melinda does for her town.

Personal Reflection

asedwards10 — 2024-10-27 19:13:31 UTC

Nursing history is essential to contemporary nursing practice because it provides a foundational understanding of the profession's evolution, this allows nurses to learn from past challenges and successes, appreciate their current role within healthcare and better address contemporary issues related to patient care, advocacy, and professional development. Nurses can gain insight into how the profession has developed and use that to inform their current practice! Each day I go into work as a nurse I learn something new from patients and peers alike and am able to apply that to and evolve my practice.