N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse

N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse Role Study Guide The ANA’s unit of specialty organizations is the Nursing Organizations Liaison Forum (NOLF). Another coalition of nursing organizations is the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners. Each organization has its own membership requirements and typically membership is limited to nurses within that specialty. Some organizations exist to represent members of historically under-represented groups. They include the following: • The National Black Nurses Association • The National Association of Hispanic Nurses • The Nurses Christian Fellowship • The Native American Nurses Association • American Assembly for Men in Nursing 1.7 Educational Patterns in Nursing Historical Models Florence Nightingale Born in 1820, she was the second daughter of a wealthy family and was cultured, well-traveled, and educated. She wanted to become a nurse, but this aspiration was unthinkable to her family because of the terrible conditions of the hospitals at that time and what we now refer to as the “servant image” of nursing. She continued to travel with her family and became inspired by the public health movement and concerns about hospital reform in England. She began collecting information on public health and hospitals and soon became recognized as an important authority on the subject. Through friends she learned of the institute at Kaiserwerth where care was provided and nurses were trained. She spent three months studying there. After the Crimean War began, she offered to take a group of 38 nurses to Crimea. Her efforts in Crimea resulted in greatly reduced mortality rates among the sick and wounded. When the war ended, she returned to England and her next major project involved working to change the entire approach of health for the British soldier. These activities included constructing hospitals and improving basic hygiene and public health measures for the army. Her focus was on providing cleanliness, wholesome food, fresh air, and separation of people from garbage and sewage both for living environments and for hospital construction. Throughout her lifetime, she wrote extensively about hospitals, sanitation, health, health statistics, and especially about nursing and nursing education. Among her most popular books is Notes on Nu sin , published in 1859. She crusaded for and brought about great reform in nursing education. Florence Nightingale founded the Nightingale school at St. Thomas Hospital in London in 1860. The one-year program resulted in the graduate being listed in the register as a certified nurse. The nurse was then required to work for five years in a hospital. During training, the student cooked for the sick and observed patients. She was scheduled for an approximately nine-hour day of training and work.

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