: Historical Development of Nursing Timeline - Research Paper Example

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale was born on 12th May, 1820 at Villa La Columbaia in Florence, Italy, to William Nightingale and Fanny Nightingale. She began her training in lean nursing at the institution of Deaconesses in Kaiserworth, Germany, in 1844. In 1850, Florence attended a nursing course at the Institute of St. Vincent de Paul in Alexandria, Egypt and later, in 1851, went back to Kaiserworth where she completed her course in nursing at a hospital run by a protestant religious community.

Florence Nightingale loved the nursing science with a passion and she liked describing it as an art and as a calling. Florence Nightingale is one of the most recognized pioneers and the first nurse theorist of this field. Most nursing theorists have expanded upon her work, which has served as a foundation of nursing. In her environmental theory, she stated that the environment of a patient directly affects the biological and physiological processes of the patient and the nurses should take the initiative of improving or configuring the environmental settings for the quick recovery of the patient.

This theory proved important during the Crimean War (Nightingale, 2007). The mental well-being is another factor and Nightingale encouraged nurses to train families or visitors of patients to use quiet speech, allow them uninterrupted sleep and provide cheerful conversation. She also advocated the provision of flowers and live plants in the room of the patient and that the food should be of the patient’s taste. Nightingale stressed that the psychological needs of the patient are more important than the physical factors (Nightingale, 2007).

Florence Nightingale died on August 13th, 1910 at the age of 90. Betty Newman Betty Newman is another important nursing scholar and a theorist. She was born in 1924, in Lowel, Ohio. Her most famous theory is Betty Newman’s system model of nursing which was developed in 1970. The model focuses on a comprehensive, flexible, and holistic approach to nursing. It focuses on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to keep various stressors that are detrimental to the patient at bay. She considered five key concepts, which are core during care of a patient.

The first one is physiological care of the body structure and function of the patient. The psychological factor is the second concept encompassing mental processes and emotions of the patient. The third one is the socio-cultural factor, which refers to relationships and other socio-cultural activities. The fourth one is the spiritual aspect, which refers to the influence of spiritual beliefs on the patient, and the last one is development, which covers life development processes (Sitzman & Wright, 2010).

Jean Watson Born in July 21, 1940, Dr Jean Watson is an American nursing scholar recognized in the field of nursing for her theory of human caring and also the theory of transpersonal caring. The theory focuses on a good relationship between the patient and the nurse. She believes that humanity combined with science can contribute greatly towards the quick recovery of a patient. Watson insists that for a caring moment to occur, the nurse and the patient should make eye contact; the nurse should treat a patient as a holistic being; the nurse should display unconditional acceptance and spend uninterrupted time with patients.

Watson believes that all these caring moments link the patient and