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Encyclopedia: Nursing, Portal:Nursing/Nursing history, Talk:Nursing, Nursing home, Category:Nursing, Nursing diagnosis, Nursing school, Brassiere, Nursing informatics, History of corsets

Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families and communities in attaining, re-attaining and maintaining optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

History of nursing

thumb|right|200px|A Nurse with a hospital ship.">[U.S. Navy recruiting poster from World War II. It shows a Navy Nurse with a hospital ship.]

In premodern times, nuns and the military often provided nursing services. The religious and military roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today. For example, in Britain, senior female nurses are known as "Sisters".

Florence Nightingale is regarded as the founder of modern nursing, which flourished in response to the Crimean War.

New Zealand was the first country to regulate nurses nationally, with adoption of the Nurses Registration Act on the 12th of September 1901. Ellen Dougherty was the first Registered Nurse.

For more information on prominent nurses, both historical and contemporary, see articles on individual nurses. There are also articles on nursing museums on Wikipedia. Many of these museums, such as the American Museum of Nursing, have online galleries.

see also|Timeline of nursing

Nursing as a profession

Nursing, like all professions, is based on the ideal of service to humanity. The practice of nursing involves altruistic behavior, is guided by nursing research and is governed by a code of ethics.

Nursing continues to develop a wide body of knowledge and associated skills. There are a number of educational paths to becoming a professional nurse but all involve extensive study of nursing theory and practice and training in clinical skills.

The authority for the practice of nursing is based upon a social contract that delineates professional rights and responsibilities as well as mechanisms for public accountability. In almost all countries, nursing practice is defined and governed by law and entrance to the profession is regulated by national, state, or territorial boards of nursing.

Nursing practice

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The American Nurses Association has defined nursing as "the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations."ANA. Nursing's Social Policy Statement, Second Edition, 2003, p. 6 & Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, 2004, p. 7.

The UK based Royal College of Nursing offers this definition: Nursing is "The use of clinical judgement in the provision of care to enable people to improve, maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems, and to achieve the best possible quality of life, whatever their disease or disability, until death."http://www.rcn.org.uk/downloads/definingnursing/definingnursing-a5.pdf RCN (2003) Defining nursing Retrieved October 2006

Nursing theory and process

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In gereral terms, the nursing process is the method used to assess and diagnose needs, plan and implement interventions, and evaluate the outcomes of the care provided. Like other disciplines, the profession has developed different theories derived from sometimes diverse philosophical beliefs and paradigms or worldviews to help nurses direct their activities to accomplish specific goals.

Regulation of practice

The practice of nursing is governed by laws which define a scope of practice, generally mandated by the the legislature of the political division within which the nurse practices. Nurses are held legally responsible and accountable for their practice. The standard of care is that of the "prudent nurse".

Nursing specialties

Nursing is the most diverse of all healthcare professions. It is a universal role, appearing in some form in every culture.

see also|List of nursing

United Kingdom

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The Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK is the regulatory body for nurses, midwives and specialist practitioners. It maintains a register that is split into three parts:

*Nursing
*Midwifery
*Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (which includes Health Visitors)

Prior to the creation of the new three part register on 1st August 2004, nurses and midwives were divided into a part of the register they held a qualification in. This may be now described as a 'sub-part' of the nursing register, a list of which appears here.

All newly qualified nurses register in 'sub-part' 12, 13, 14 or 15 showing their branch qualification. However, nurses still practising and holding qualifications in 'sub-parts' 1-9 are registered as such.

To become a nurse within the United Kingdom, one must at the very minimum hold a Diploma in Nursing and have trained for three years, or equivalent if from overseas. After training, the opportunities are vast, with many different areas of nursing, from general ward to teaching or management. Also the practice areas can be in hospital, or in the community or both.

Many nurses are members of trade unions, which represent them both individually and as a profession, the two main unions are, UNISON and the Royal College of Nursing.

United States

main|Nursing in the United

In the US, there are over 200 specialties within nursing. These specialties encompass care throughout the human lifespan based upon patient needs.

Professional organizations or certifying boards issue voluntary certification in many of these areas to signify expert knowledge of the specialty. Certified nurses often earn a salary differential over their non-certified colleagues, and studies from the Institute of Medicine have demonstrated that specialty certified nurses have higher rates of patient satisfaction, as well as lower rates of work-related errors in patient care.

Practice settings

Nurses practice in a wide range of settings from hospitals to visiting people in their homes and caring for them in schools to research in pharmaceutical companies. Nurses work in occupational health settings (also called industrial health settings), free-standing clinics and physician offices, nurse-run clinics, long-term care facilities, and camps. Nurses work on cruise ships and in military service. They act as advisors and consultants to the healthcare and insurance industries. Some nurses are attorneys and others work with attorneys as legal nurse consultants, reviewing patient records to assure that adequate care was provided and testifying in court. In many cities, nurses can even enter their names in a "registry" and work a wide variety of temporary jobs.