nursing as a profession

• Profession


  Nursing has several ethical principles that guide their philosophy of practice throughout all tasks in the workplace
• Nursing as a profession

  • Provides exemplary care at all times
  • Prioritizes the care of patients with respect to individual dignity
  • Cooperates with other health professionals to improve patient outcomes
  • Acts with integrity and honesty to maintain the profession reputation
• Nursing


  A healthcare profession that focuses on the care of individuals and their families to help them recover from illness and maintain optimal health and quality of life
• Role of a nurse

  • Promote health and prevent illness
  • Care for the disabled and physically / mentally ill people
  • Engage in healthcare teaching
  • Participate in the provision of healthcare alongside other team members
  • Supervise training and education of nurses
  • Assist in healthcare research
• NURSE


  • N- Nobility, Knowledge
  • U- Usefulness, Understanding
  • R- Righteousness, Responsibility
  • S- Simplicity, Sympathy
  • E- Efficiency, Equanimity
• History of Nursing


  1. 300 AD: Entry of women into nursing

  2. 1633: Sisters of charity founded by Louise de Marillac

  3. 1809: Mother Elizabeth Seton introduced the sisters of charity into America

  4. 1836: Deaconess Institute of Kaiserswerth, Germany, founded

  5. 1860: Establishment of the Nightingale training school for nurses at St. Thomas`s hospital in London, England

  6. 1884: Mary Snively assumed directorship of Toronto General Hospital

  7. 1890: Establishment of the Nurses` Associated Alumni of the United States and Canada

  8. 1901: First University-affiliated nursing program, Army Nurse corps established

  9. 1911: Formed American Nurses Association

  10. 1920: Graduate nurse-midwifery programs were established

  11. 1926: ANA Code of Ethics approved

  12. 1953: National League for Nursing in collaboration with other universities, developed graduate nursing Education
• Historical documents point to the origin of professional nursing at around A.D. 300, during the Roman Empire. But the evolution of nursing into a modern profession occurred centuries later amid a war-torn Europe.
• Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Roman Catholic religious' congregation founded at Paris in 1633 by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. It was the first non-cloistered religious institute of women devoted to active charitable works, especially in the service of the poor.
• In 1809, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton founded her community at Emmitsburg, Maryland. The nucleus of the little community was comprised of five Sisters who were soon joined by others. As the community took shape, Elizabeth directed its vision. Her desire to consecrate her life to works of charity led Mother Seton to adapt a Rule from that of the Daughters of Charity.
• In 1836, Theodore Fliedner reinstituted the Order of Deaconesses and opened a small hospital and training school in Kaiserswerth, Germany, where Florence Nightingale received her training.
• In 1860, she funded the establishment of St. Thomas' Hospital, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Her efforts to reform healthcare greatly influenced the quality of care in the 19 and 20 centuries.
• 1884 to 1910, Mary Agnes Snively was the Superintendent of Nurses at the Toronto General Hospital's School of Nursing, where she established the first nursing student residence and a proper curriculum. In 1908, she became the first president of the Canadian Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses.
• In the 1890s, nurses organized two major professional associations: the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses, later renamed the National League of Nursing Education, and the Associated Alumnae of the United States, later renamed the American Nurses Association.
• The first nurses and first women in the military were appointed to the Army Nurse Corps on 2 February 1901; however, the Continental Army first requested nurses to take care of wounded and sick soldiers in 1776.
• When the organization became the American Nurses Association in 1911, it was already fighting for the profession to gain the respect it deserved. Policy makers began to recognize the importance of nursing's value to health care, and through annual conventions and academic journals, the shared wisdom of nurses inspired others to join the profession.
• Nurse-midwifery was a new idea that developed against a backdrop of rancorous opposition.4 There were four early nurse-midwifery education programs: two developed in the 1920s and two developed in the 1930s.
• In 1926, the ANA published a "suggested" code which provided the first outline of ethical behavior for nurses (ANA, 1926). The provisions were framed in terms of the various relationships between the nurse and patient; the nurse and medicine; and nurses and their profession.