THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS IN NURSING

NURSING- art of caring sick and well individual. Body of abstract

knowledge. Skill is assisting individual to achieve optimal health.

 NURSING IN BEGINNING

INTUITIVE PERIOD
– nursing started in the intuitive way of caring for the sick members of
the family.
VOODOO( witchcraft)- way of sickness
Nursing is given by WOMEN.
SHAMAN – uses white magic to counteract the black magic.
-They are the doctors during those time
TREPHINING – drilling the skull. Used to treat Psychotic patients.
Psychotic patients are believed to be possessed by evil spirits.

 ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

- Providing care resolves around the use of magical thinking,

superstitious and religious beliefs.
- Female slaves are usually the ones who provide physical
maintenance and comfort for the sick.
- Goddess Isis and her son Horus- worshiped by the Egyptian
people. Manipulate the dreams of the sick
- CODE OF HAMMURABI- Babylonia in the year 1900 BC.
earliest documented forms of service and law governing the practice
medicine
 - nursing roles were not clearly defined in the code.

- CODE OF HAMMURABI
-1st recording on the medical practice
-Established the medical fees
-Discouraged experimentation
-Specific doctor for each disease
-Right of patient to choose treatment between the use of charms, medicine, or
surgical procedure

ART OF EMBALMING (Egyptian)

MUMMIFICATION- Removing the internal
organs of the dead body
-Instillation of herbs and salt
to the dead

GREECE AND ROME- care of the sick revolves

around mythology.
ASKLEPIOS- Greek god and chief healer
EPIGONE-wife, soother
HYGEA- daughter, Goddess of health.

AFRICANS, saw nurses as midwives, herbalists

and care givers for the children and elderly.

 EDUCATIVE PERIOD

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ERA-Began on June 15, 1860, Florence Nightingale

School of Nursing opened at St. Thomas Hospital in London England, where 1st
program for formal education of Nurses began and contributed growth of Nursing in
the US.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING EDUCATION:

-Social forces
-Trends resulting from war
-Emancipation of women
-Increased educational opportunities

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

-Mother of Modern Nursing

-Lady with the Lamp
-Born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy
-Her SELF-APPOINTED GOAL – to change the profile of Nursing
-She compiled notes of her visits to hospitals, her observations of sanitation
practices and entered Deaconesses School of Nursing at Kaiserswerth,
Germany for 3 months.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
-Became the Superintendent of the Establishment for Gentle Women
during the Illness (refers to the ill governess or instructors of Nursing)
-She disapproved restriction on admission of patient and considered this
unchristian and contrary to health care.
-Upgraded the practice of Nursing and made Nursing a honorable
profession
-Led other nurses in taking care of the wounded and sick soldiers during
the Crimean War
-She was designated as Superintendent of the Female Establishment of
English General Hospital in Turkey during the Crimean War
 - She reduced the casualties of war by 42%-2% thru her effort by
improving the practice of sanitation techniques and procedure in the
military barracks.

THE CONCEPTS OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ON NURSING SCHOOL:

-School of Nursing should be self-supporting not subject to the whimps of the

Hospital.

-Have decent living quarters for students and pay Nurse instructors

-Correlate theories to practice

-Support Nursing research and promote continuing education for nurses

-Introduce teaching knowledge that disease could be eliminated by cleanliness and

sanitation and Florence Nightingale likewise did not believe in the Germ Theory of
Bacteriology.

-Wrote Notes on Nursing, “What it is and what it is not.”

  CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

DEVELOPMENT AND TRENDS:

-W.H.O established by U.N to fight diseases by providing health
information, proper nutrition, living standard, environmental conditions.
- Medical equipment and machines for diagnosis and treatment Health
related laws
-Primary Health Care – Nurses involvement in CHN
-Utilization of computers
-Technology advances such as development of disposable
equipment and supplies that relieved the tedious task of Nurses.
-Development of the expanded role of Nurses

HISTORY OF NURSING (PHILIPPINE SETTING)

EARLY BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Beliefs About Causation of
Diseases: Caused or inflicted by other person (enemy or witch)
Evil spirits

Beliefs That Evil Spirits Could Be Driven Off By Person With

Powers To Expel Bad Spirits:
-Believed in Gods of healing
WORD DOCTORS – priest physicians
HERBOLARIOS – herb doctors
HERBICHEROS – herb men who practice witchcraft
MANGKUKULAM / MANGANGAWAY – a person suffering
from disease without any identified cause and were believed
bewitched by such
-Difficult childbirth and some diseases attributed to (NONO)
midwives
-Difficult birth, witches were supposed to be the cause,
gunpowder exploded from a bamboo pole close to the head of
the mother to drive evil spirits

Nursing Science and Theory in the Early20th Century

-Philosophers and scientists argued the use of empiricism and
rationalism.
-Philosophers points of view is that knowledge should be based
on the understanding of existing theories while scientists
believe that knowledge should not only focus on theoretical
existence but also on understanding what there is still to be
observed.
RATIONALISM -emphasizes the use of reasoning for the main
purpose of knowing the harm or benefits of an act to an
individual.
DEDUCTIVE TYPE REASONING -is used to
generate rationalist view which starts from general to specific
knowledge.
EVIDENCE-BASED NURSING AND NURSING
RESEARCH -make use of a general or broad concept that
needs to be studied and understand thru different supplemental
materials.
-It is highly important in nursing to emphasize that
planned interventions must have reasons prior to the actual
implementation.
EMPIRICISM
Use of objective and tangible data or those that are perceived
by the senses (smell, sight, taste and feeling) to observe and
collect data. These data are then used to formulate general
knowledge, which is the use INDUCTIVE TYPE OF
REASONING.

Rationalism (Deductive type reasoning) - Theory first then

research approach
Empiricism (inductive type reasoning) - Research first then
theory approach

- In nursing, the use of empiricism is highly important in the

assessment of patients all throughout the entire nursing
process.