Evolution of the Field of Nursing

Nursing Practice
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Nursing Practice
As human society progresses, so do the different professions within it. The nursing practice has particularly advanced over time, with the main aim of its dynamism being to enhance service delivery and care for human health. The field of nursing has changed over time, especially with the growing demand for personal care, technology changes, the onset of new diseases, social changes, globalization, among other factors.
Since the onset of nursing, the significant notable change is the advancement of formal professional nursing education. Arguably, ever since the discovery of nursing as an occupation in the nineteenth century, most nursing practices were mainly taught through apprenticeship and mentorship programs. Currently, however, nursing is more oriented towards continuous research and professional studies with the introduction of many nursing courses, nursing schools and institutions in various hospitals worldwide. With these evolutional changes, there are significant perks that come along, especially regarding the treatment of individuals. Ideally, the more research-based nursing practice ensures efficiency, professionalism and effectiveness of the activity, which ultimately propagates good health (Stolley et al., 2000). Additionally, with the enhancement of studies and research, nurses in modern times are more differentiated, with each one having a specific area of expertise. This would mean that a specific nurse is trained in a unique area and highly capable of handling or taking care of an individual with specific demands. Besides, nurses today also have to work closely with modern technology, including; computerized systems, new medical devices, and personalized patient data. In that case, a nurse must focus on expertise to ensure they familiarize themselves with the technology and deliver competent service to the patients.
As indicated earlier, education is among one of the significant changes in nursing. Years of evolution have introduced two leading nursing training, an associate and a baccalaureate education. The most visible difference between the two is that the associate nursing degree takes a shorter time than the bachelor’s degree in nursing (Primm, 1987). That said, the bachelor’s degree would have an enormous scope of practice and technicality. Ideally, it would suffice to say that the associate degree is more accessible than the BSN. Their competency is mainly limited to performing day-to-day technical tasks in the hospitals. These include updating patient's charts, administration of non-demanding procedures and clinical skills (Primm, 1987). The scope of practice changes when it comes to a BSN nurse. In essence, the BSN nurse has more vast skills and areas of expertise extending to intimate patient care, training, management, leadership and administration, consultation, and research in the nursing field.
Due to their differences in training, an ADN trained nurse, and a BSN trained nurse would handle a patient care situation differently. For instance, a patient requiring palliative care would ha...