 To be a nurse is a calling and difficult to describe in words. Who can say why a person would want to do a nurses work, but those who do will tell you there is nothing as fulfilling or rewarding. Nurses stay by the side of those they serve through the worst times and celebrate with patients and families in the best times.

 Florence Nightingale is called the mother of modern secular nursing. Born in 1820 in Florence, Italy, this intelligent, upper-class woman made dramatic and universal changes in health care. At age 16, Nightingale was called by God to minister to the sick.

 Early Home Care (before mid-1800s)  District Nursing (mid-1800s to 1900)  Public Health Nursing (1900 to 1970)  Community Health Nursing (1970 to present)

 Religious and charitable groups  Elizabethan Poor Law  St. Vincent de Paul  Home deliveries  Industrial revolution  Florence Nightingale & Mary Seacole

Nursing competency ranked second in the Via Christi survey. Some key features of nursing competency are as follow:  The ability to recognize common factors that contribute to, and adversely affect, the physical, mental and social well-being of patients and clients, and be able to take appropriate action.  An understanding of the ethics of health care and the nursing profession and the responsibilities these impose on the nurse’s professional practice.

 Visiting nursing (district nursing)  Care of individuals  Religious to private philanthropy  Health visitors as backbone of primary health care system

 Expansion to health & welfare of general public  Specialized programs  Lillian Wald  First to use term “ Public Health Nursing ”  Teachers College  National Organization for Public Health Nursing  Henry Street Settlement  National League of Nursing Education

 Community Health Nursing  Public health nursing (epidemiology)  Community-based clinics  Worksites  Schools  Collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork

 Advanced technology  Causal thinking  Educational changes  Demographic changes and role changes for women  Consumer movement  Economic factors

As nurses embrace the future, what is your vision for the nursing profession? This author believes it will be interactions that nourish our human spirits in the places we live and work. Nurses must be deliberate with time, energy and resources as the profession works toward the goal of quality nursing care.

Allows maturity and confidence to develop in practice. It allows the development of expertise and the refinement of skills It allows the nursing workforce to be responsive to changes in the management of patients and in meeting emerging care needs. It supports role success and job satisfaction.

Registration Employment as a nurse Desire to improve standards in practice To be the best in what you do. Added value To gain qualifications. To enhance personal status.