After hundreds of years, Florence Nightingale’s legacy remains strong and continues to inspire many within the health profession. The lack of technology did not hamper her determination to promote health for all. She believed in a holistic approach to addressing health issues. As evidenced by the theory of integral nursing, Nightingale’s mode of addressing health issues, showed the interconnectedness of various factors that relate to the general health of an individual. She urged health professionals especially nurses to focus on the environment in which people live in, having in mind that the air people breathe, the places people lived, the water we drank and the sources of food had a significant impact on health. Nightingale encouraged nurses to provide a conducive environment that promotes healing for the patient. She further sought to address other issues that indirectly associated with the outcome of diseases and general health such as poverty, and economic issues.
Nightingale’s approach has positively influenced my perception of the Millennium development goals. I now understand how the Millennium goals are interconnected to cover all aspects of life because one way or another, these aspects lead to preserving life, ensuring human sustainability and development. The Millennium goals offer a great opportunity to health professionals and other partners to address human welfare around the globe especially in developing countries. The goals provide a common framework for governments and Non- governmental organizations to structure policies and practices. Therefore, it brings the clarity to both shared and individual roles to identify resources available and work together towards improving human conditions. Compared to Nightingale’s time, today’s population of health professionals are more equipped to handle the world’s health challenges. I believe that the vast technology and other resources available present an excellent opportunity to continue Nightingale’s work of improving human lives.
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Nurses’ work involves being aware of the factors that contribute to the health and the general well-being of the population in which they operate. Factors such as poverty, education and women empowerment indirectly contribute to poor health status. Therefore, the Millennium goals 1, 2, and 3 are avenues in which the nursing profession can continue to contribute towards achieving the Millennium goals. These factors include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, and promoting gender equality and women empowerment (Beck, Dossey, & Rushton, 2011). Currently, the nursing profession contributes greatly to achieving goals 4, 5 and 6 which are reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases respectively. Nonetheless, nurses have the potential to tackle other contributing factors to health such as those aforementioned.
Research studies have indicated an obvious correlation between food, shelter, and health. The lack basic needs hamper one’s ability to access proper treatment and healthcare. In this respect, nurses have the potential to ensure healthcare is accessible to the vulnerable people within the society. This can be achieved by setting up mobile clinics to cater for the health needs of the homeless, those affected by disasters as well as those who are imprisoned.
It is also noteworthy that, the nursing profession can contribute towards women empowerment and as such promote gender equality. Discussions about gender inequality have been rampant over the years with experts suggesting that the challenges to poor health could easily be solved by promoting women empowerment and ensuring gender equality. The nursing profession that is predominantly female has encouraged many girls, especially from the developing countries to take up nursing as a profession. This, in its sense, promotes women empowerment by obtaining stable sources of income through nursing. Moreover, the nurses can work with other partners to ensure that abused women and girls are identified and accorded the legal justice. By doing so, women and girls will no longer be afraid of living their lives to the fullest.
Quality education brings with it many benefits including income benefits as well as social benefits. Good health for all children ensures that a reduced number of absenteeism cases and promotes better quality grades among the students. Nurses can easily work together with schools to target and provide healthcare to underprivileged children in schools. By reaching out to children through schools, the nurses can help reduce the occurrence of preventable diseases and deaths among the young ones in attending schools. It is clear that nurses can be the prime movers of promoting the Millennium goals and thus, they need to be supported to work towards achieving the set goals.
Nurses can easily achieve the Millennium goals through the support of their various associations including the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The association can raise awareness among the nurses about the importance of Millennium goals. Through the associations, new nurses joining the profession as well as those looking forward to joining the profession can learn of the works previously done to promote the Millennium goals. Moreover, through publications, and social media campaigns, the associations can educate the populations of the many ways that the nursing career can and has created the impact to the society. This strategy can encourage many people to join the profession.
The associations can also influence policy development. This can be achieved through creating awareness to the respective governments of the need to support the nursing profession towards achieving the Millennium goals. Through advocacy, the nurses can also empower the community to demand their rights to proper health. Another option available would be for the nursing associations to white papers about the various health issues that should be addressed to make the nursing profession able to achieve the Millennium goals. This urges the government to make more investment towards the nursing profession. The nursing associations can also provide platforms on which nurses can use to reach out to the vulnerable groups all over the world. By partnering with different organizations around the world, the associations can advertise opportunities for available for the nursing profession in vulnerable countries. Furthermore, they can also advise and foster training opportunities for incoming nurses towards helping the needy.
Reference
Beck, D.-M., Dossey, B. M., & Rushton, C. H. (2011). Integral Nursing And The Nightingale Initiative For Global Health; Florence Nightingale's Integral Legacy for the 21st Century. Journal of Integral Theory & Practice, 6 (4).
