Nurs 1001-Understanding the Nursing Profession

First Nurses:

Catholic Nuns- From Quebec

1. Hotel-Dieu (1639)- treated patients with herbal remedies, lot of patient care was still being done in patients' homes.
2. Grey Nuns (1738)- who helped the less advantaged individuals, gave rise to missionaries. Treated with herbal remedies
3. Outpost Nursing- Provide public, diagnostic, and emergency care.

Florence Nightingale

• The founder of modern nursing
• Crimean war
  • Lady with the lamp
  • Go around at night to check on the soldiers with her lantern
• Environmental Health
  • Clean water and air, sanitation, cleanliness and light
  • Her ideas of hygiene and good water measures help lower mortality rates
• Links to colonialism
• Against her parent's wishes, she left for Germany to go to nursing school
• The first nurse to use statistics to track the mortality rates of soldiers

Nightingale School of Nursing

• London (1860)
• Canada was used as a model for nursing school
• Transform nursing into a dignified field, making sure nurses are highly educated

Military Nursing

• World War I
• Influenza Epidemic
  • 1919
  • Nursing care changed from primarily treating diseases to health promotion
• World War II
  • The demand for nurses increased (navy, army, airforce)
  • Working as an administrator and other jobs
  • Nursing shortage

Nursing School

• St Catherine's Training School, (1874)
• 330 nursing schools across Canada by 1930
• Education occurring in hospitals

Nursing Organizations

• Victorian Order of Nurses (1898)
  • Lois wanted to make healthcare accessible to everyone
  • Prenatal education
• International Council of Nurses (1899)
  • Founded by nurses from 6 different countries
  • Advocate for professional welfare and improve women's positions
• Canadian Nurses Association (1908)
  • Develops national policies, furthering Canadian standards

Mary Agnes Snivel

• Superintendent of Nurses, Toronto General Hospital (1884)
• When she was hired, she had an education background and found nursing school to be lacking
• Nursing education reform
• International Council of Nurses
  • One of the founding members
• Canadian Nurses Association
  • Granted nurses the status of professional

Activity

• Research Canadian nursing history
  • Who is represented? Who is not represented?
  • The history behind Canadian nursing involved primarily white Catholics/nuns. Those who were not represented were men, and minorities.
  • Bernice Redmon
    • Black woman who was denied entry into nursing school. Became the first black nurse in Nova Scotia

- Edith Anderson Monture

- Indigenous woman

Nursing Education

• Weir Report (1932)
  • Look at the quality of the nursing curriculum. He found nursing education insufficient to train nurses, and hospitals were exploiting students. Move nurses out of the hospital and into the education system
• Baccalaureate as Entry-to-practice (1975)
  • Mandatory in Ontario for nurses to have a degree in nursing.
• Increasing scope

Nursing Programs

• 1930-330 nursing schools across Canada
• 1919-1st undergraduate nursing programs in BC
• 1959-1st Masters of Nursing program at UWO
• 1991-1 Ph.D. nursing program UOA

Unionization

• Canadian Nurses Association approves collective bargaining (1944)
• First independent purse union in Canada (1946)
• Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) (1973)
• Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (1981)

Gender

• Gender stereotypes
  • Nightingale model that nurses were unmarried catholic women. Women were meant to assist men and not challenge them. Efforts are being made for more men to become nurses.
• Gender balance
• Patient-centred care
  • Patients may be more comfortable speaking to a nurse of the same sex.

Diversity

• Segregation
  • In the 1960s/1970s people became aware of the lack of diversity in Nursing
• Cultural diversity
• Underrepresented population

International Educated Nurses Initiatives (IEN)

• Nurse recruitment
  • Government financial
• Culturally competent core
  • Providing health to marginalized groups
• Decreasing health disparities
• Ethical
  • Philipines cannot keep up with what Canada is offering to Filipino nurses. The Philippines is short about 300k nurses, whereas we are 1000k nurses.
  • Need to stop these recruitment practices, as other countries are left short-handed.

Activity

• Reflection
  • Consider how each of these images can be viewed positively of negatively through a professional lens.
    • How do these historical images compare to those of today?

1st picture (man with tattoos talking)

• His tattoos may be looked at as unprofessional, many patients may find the tattoos disrespectful

2nd Picture (nurse and doctor)

• The uniform the nurse is wearing makes it seem like her stance in the healthcare role is to act professional in terms of appearance, wearing a dress and tights. Whereas the doctor is wearing scrubs.
• Her uniform was nonfunctional and looked uncomfortable, especially the white colour

The perception of these images has since changed in this day and age. Tattoos are more normalized, and nurses and doctors are wearing the same uniform.

Qualities of a Nurse

• Appearance
  • Uniforms, behaviours, mannerisms
• Accountability
  • Prepared, ethical practice
• Values
  • Compassion, integrity, and empathy
• Clinical judgment
  • Critical thinking, collaboration

Nursing Education

• Lifelong learning
  • Quality improvement
• Post-graduate certificates and diplomas
• Masters degree
• Nurse Practitioner
• PhD

Domains of Nursing

• Variety of practice settings
• Practice
  • Hospital, long-term care, clinic, community, public health
• Education
  • Preceptor, clinical teaching, academia
• Leadership
  • Charge nurse, administrative/management positions

Self-regulation & Accountability

• Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (1926)
• College of Nurses of Ontario (1963)

Activity

• Discussion
• Why do you think that the idea of nurses being “healthcare heroes” is problematic for the profession of nursing?
  • They are using praise instead of offering actual change. Nurses are being put on a pedestal but are not receiving any comprehension of this type of perception. Nurses are too short-staffed and underpaid for this type of praise and expectation. The word “hero” makes nurses believe that they need to be selfless and sacrifice their overall well-being to fit into this role.

Media

• Inaccurate depiction of reality
• Stigma
• Halloween costumes
• Social media platforms

Summary

• Nursing has evolved into a respected profession
• Nightingale was influential in transforming nursing education and the representation of a nurse
• Roots of nursing practice and education were built upon colonial approaches
• The history of racism has failed to include important figures in nursing history
• Nursing is moving towards a more gender-balanced and diverse profession
• Nursing is a profession due to its own specialized knowledge, skills, regulatory bodies, and research
• Images of nurses that sexualize or portray them as heroes have a negative impact on the profession