Iconic Nurses Every Healthcare Worker Can Learn From
Nurses have long been regarded as one of the most hard working and essential workers in the healthcare system. Nearly every patient comes in contact with nurses, and they provide much of the important tasks in treatment, safety, and recovery of sick patients. All nurses are inspirational, but there are a few in history that really stand out. Read on to learn about some of the most important nurses in history.
Florence Nightingale is perhaps the most well known nurse in history. She is responsible for laying the foundation of nursing as a profession, as a women who rebelled against her expected role of wife and mother. Nightingale has left behind many contributions, including sanitary reform, statistics, and feminism. The Nightingale School for Nurses was the first official nurses’ training program, and taught nurses to teach, work in hospitals, and care for people in their homes.
Ethel Bedford-Fenwick is another important figure in the history of nursing. She worked to create a nationally recognized certificate in nursing so that the title of "Nurse" could be protected. She also lobbied Parliament to ensure that there would be a law to limit nursing to only "registered" nurses. Bedford-Fenwick was a major part of the founding of the Florence Nightingale International Foundation, which allowed her to make many contributions to the training and education of nurses.
Cicely Saunders is the nurse responsible for the birth of the hospice movement. Saunders’ work as a nurse greatly improved the conditions of hospices. Before her influence, hospices were only for the dying poor with minimal medical care, food, clothing, and shelter. Dame Cicely Saunders worked to create a better environment for patients in their death. She researched pain control, and started the St. Christopher’s Hospice, which was the world’s first purpose-built hospice. She revolutionized hospices into institutions that offered more than just a place to die-they now meet nearly every physical, social, and spiritual need of those in their final time on Earth.
No matter what your health care profession is, you can take a lesson from each of these historically important nurses. Consider their incredible contributions to the healthcare system and the lives of patients. How can you make a difference like these nurses did?
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