Nursing has evolved from being a career that did not require one to go to school and has currently become a highly respected career which demands for quality education. In the early days, nurses were women in a community who could get paid to take care of sick people. Nurses in those days could work from peoples’ houses because hospitals had not come into existence by then. The medical field is however constantly being faced with technological advancement in the current society. Nursing is among the fastest growing occupation and the industry has largely advanced through the implementation of technology. This essay will give a general discussion of how nursing education has evolved over the last few years.
For decades until now, nurses have involved technology in patient care across the world (St John & Prince, 2014). Technology has no only just assisted the physicians and nurses, but also improved the standards of practice such as prevention of medicinal errors, improvement of patient care and a decrease in mortality rate among others. Nurses have become accustomed to and experienced in using technology to provide patient care. This has highly contributed to the improvement in healthcare standards.
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When it comes to training of nurses, the current day qualifications in order to be a certified nurse are in depth. There are a variety of nursing programs, degrees and certificates of different types of nursing which require students to excel in different sections so as to provide high-quality healthcare services to patients. In the past days, nurses were only taught basic skills for healthcare as well as hospital etiquette. Modern-day nursing training focuses more on academic qualifications. The medical settings for modern nurses are hospitals and offices as compares to homes in the old days. The setting for nurses changed as a result of the additional training offered in the field.
Nursing training recommends for higher education and a wide range of responsibilities for nurses in the current society (National Institution of School Nurses, 2016). In late 1900, diploma programs for nurses advanced into courses that required the training to take more time to complete than before. It took 3 to 4 years for one to complete a Course in nursing as compared to the earlier days. Until 1960, most nurses graduated and became certified with a diploma. Students became more exposed and changed nursing education to be based in classrooms and to be attained fully in university levels. Modern nursing training allows students to attain degrees and even Masters Programs in the field. Such programs enhance a science and skill-based knowledge in different specialties such as forensic nurses and many others.
Most colleges nowadays have laboratories that are of high technology. They are equipped with mannequins that look more like life patients. Such as technological advances in nursing training help students to put into practice real-life situations. The advancement in today’s nursing certificates and degrees provides graduates with different career options in the field and opportunities that are advanced. This has also enabled nurses to be in a position to work in many different settings apart from the hospital such as research labs, correctional facilities, and private-practice offices among others.
The advanced training in the nursing career (Henly et al., 2015) has led to the expansion of their scope of work unlike during the old days. The advanced training has enabled nurses to engage in more challenging responsibilities. It has made nurses become more respected medical people in their career. Nurses in the current society carry out more responsibilities than before where they were viewed as just women who assisted doctors. Moreover, many countries have given full practice authority to practitioner nurses, which give them the chance to act as primary caregivers and even give medicine prescriptions without a physician’s approval. This is a result of the high level of training offered to nurses in the current society which provides them with medical knowledge which is backed-up with advanced education.
During the old times, nursing career was perceived as a career mostly pursued by women. This has greatly changed over time. More men are getting into the career and advancing in nursing training. There were no male nurses working in health care institution before the 4 th century. Nowadays, some of the training and healthcare facilities even have more male trainers than female. Male nurses get more encouragement to pursue the course and have been accepted by the public. Nursing was earlier on seen to be a career which only women were allowed to pursue. Male nurses have been proved to be just as competent as their female counterparts as they are provided with equal training opportunities.
In current day nursing training, nurses highly involve the use of technology in patient care. Technological advancements in the field have not only assisted the physicians, nurses or healthcare workers but also improved the practicing standards like preventing errors in medication, decrease in the mortality rate, improving ways in which patients are cared for among others. Technology has enabled nurses to know their patients better. Through advanced training, nurses have become competent and gained adequate experience in using technology implemented in different areas in healthcare facilities.
To finish with, many factors in nursing training, with technology being the major factor, have allowed nursing career to evolve for the better. Nurses continue to play a big role in the society. They aim at improving health care services as they are exposed to more opportunities and are in a position to achieve technological knowledge all around the globe. Currently there are more nurses who are specialized such as clinicians and researchers who have advanced themselves through technological training.
References
St John, A., & Price, C. P. (2014). Existing and emerging technologies for point-of-care testing. The Clinical Biochemist Reviews , 35 (3), 155.
National Association of School Nurses. (2016). Framework for 21st century school nursing practice: National Association of School Nurses. NASN School Nurse , 31 (1), 45-53.
Henly, S. J., McCarthy, D. O., Wyman, J. F., Heitkemper, M. M., Redeker, N. S., Titler, M. G., ... & Conley, Y. P. (2015). Emerging areas of science: Recommendations for nursing science education from the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Idea Festival. Nursing Outlook , 63 (4), 398-407.
