Foundations of Nursing Practice

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the history, definitions, and aims of nursing from the lecture notes.

Nutrix (Latin origin of nursing)

To nourish; origin of the word nursing.

Animism

Belief that spirits govern health and illness; an aspect of early civilizations' views affecting nursing.

Knights Hospitallers

Medieval military order founded during the Crusades to provide care for the sick and wounded.

First nursing school (250 BCE, India)

Earliest known formal nursing education institution.

St. Camillus de Lellis

Late 16th-century founder associated with organized nursing care (Camillians).

Florence Nightingale

Founder of modern nursing; promoted sanitation, education, and established the first nursing training school.

Hospital schools

Nursing education programs organized within hospitals to control staff and reduce costs.

World War II: impact on nursing

Increased numbers of women working outside the home and expanded nurses' independence and roles.

Explosion in medicine and technology

Advances that broadened the scope and complexity of nursing practice.

Growth of nursing as a professional discipline

Nursing increasingly recognized as a distinct professional field.

Nursing (1950s–present): broader practice

Nursing expanded across settings with a developing body of knowledge and focus on health promotion.

ICN definition of Nursing

Promotion of health, prevention of illness, advocacy, safe environment, research, shaping health policy, and education.

ANA definition of Nursing

Definition provided by the American Nurses Association as the Social Policy Statement.

Patient-centered focus in nursing definitions

The patient is the central focus of all nursing definitions.

Dimensions of the patient

Care considers physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Nursing's Aims: Promote health

Aim to promote health and well-being.

Nursing's Aims: Prevent illness

Aim to reduce the risk of disease and injury.

Nursing's Aims: Restore health

Aim to help patients recover from illness or injury.

Nursing's Aims: Facilitate coping with disability or death

Assist patients in adapting to disability or end-of-life challenges.