NR 390 Week 5 Discussion, Progress in Nursing in the Early-to-Mid 20th Century
The mid-to-late 20th century was filled with amazing changes & events in
... [Show More] professional nursing. Select one of these changes or events, describe it, & explain how that change or event has impacted the quality of nursing practice today.
Hello Professor & Class!
The Mid-to-late 20th century was filled with changes that still impact the nursing of today. The change I will talk about is the Image of Nursing. When hear about the image of nursing, the first thing that run across one’s mind is their physical appearance. Nursing was closely tied to religion & military, so the uniform that nurses wore at that time is an emulation of both.These symbols tied nursing to a structure of religious & military traditions (CCN, 2017). According to Judd the nurses in the late 20th century will say “We were very proud of our uniforms, & wore them with pride” (Judd, 2014). In recent graduation ceremonies, most schools still wear the gown & the cap, had the pin to indicate their school & also carries the lamp for Florence Nightingale. I don’t think the nurse of today wear the white gown with pride. To most, is just an attire required of them to wear during pinning ceremony.As the popularity of the nursing profession grew, uniforms would continue to change. By the 1950s, there was an increased need for uniforms which could be mass-produced & easily cleaned (Southernuniversity.edu). This led to the rise of nursing scrubs.
Nursing scrubs are been worn by anyone working in healthcare, housekeeping, laundry, respiratory therapist, physical therapist etc. Most patients weren’t able to differentiate who is the nurse, who is physical therapy or even housekeeping. Back in the 20th century the pins & caps were worn to identify the school you graduated from. Because we don’t wear pins & caps anymore, my organization recently went into color coded uniforms with the name of the hospital written on it, to help an outsider identify you as a staff of the hospital. Each department wearing a specific uniform color in order to identify which department each employee belongs to without necessarily looking at their name tag & title. Initially we hated the idea, but now we all love the color coded uniforms because it makes us look professional, neat & in emergency situation when you see that Navy blue uniform, you immediately feel safe knowing you are surrounded by other nurses.
Most hospitals I have been to in Maryl& that uses the color coded system, uses navy blue for nurses except University of Maryl& Shock Trauma that uses light pink. I foresee most hospital going color coded in the state with Navy blue attributed to nurses.
Elizabeth References:
Chamberlain College of Nursing (CCN), 2017: NR 390 Nursing History, Week 6 Lesson: Mid- to-Late 20th Century Nursing
https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/the-evolution-of-nurse-uniforms- 41153. Retrieved April, 2017.
Judd, D., & Sitzman, K. (2014). A History of American nursing: Trends & eras (2nd ed.).
Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett. [Show Less]