Assignment: History Of American Nursing

Assignment: History Of American Nursing

Assignment: History Of American Nursing

There was much progress in nursing during the early to middle part of the 20th century (1900 through the late 1930s). After reading the textbook and the lesson for this week, describe one area of change in nursing during that time period that intrigues you. Discuss how that area could be applied today.

Judd, D. & Sitzman, K. (2014). A History of American nursing: Trends and eras (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Early Philosophy As society and individuals change, our philosophy of nursing changes to be congruent with new and renewed understanding. In the beginning, the Greeks moved from seeking supernatural to natural explanations. One assumption by the early Greek philosophers was that “something” had always existed. They did not question how something could come from nothing. Rather, they wanted to know what the “something” was. The pre-Socratics took the first step toward science in that they abandoned mythological thought and sought reason to answer their questions.

Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic philosopher, is well known for his thesis “everything is in flux.” He moved from simply looking at “being” to “becoming.” A popular analogy he used was that of a river, saying, “You cannot step into the same river twice, for different and again different waters flow.” More emphasis was placed on the senses versus reasoning.

On the other hand, Parmenides, who followed Heraclitus, said these two things: (1) nothing can change, and (2) our sensory perceptions are unreliable. He is called the first metaphysician, a “hard-core philosopher.” Metaphysics is the study of reality as a whole, including beyond the natural senses. What is the nature of reality? The universe? He starts with what it means and then moves to how the world must ultimately be. He does not go with his sense or experience. Parmenides thought that everything in the world had always been and that there was no such thing as change. He did, of course, sense that things changed, but his reason told him otherwise. He believed that our senses give us incorrect information and that we can rely only on our reason for acquiring knowledge about the world. This is called rationalism.