THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS IN NURSING

Lesson 1: What is Nursing?

Nurse’s function

- For example, a nurse might start IVs, administer

medications, and perform treatments in an acute
care setting.

- In a community-based clinic, a nurse might teach a

young mother the principles of infant feeding or
place phone calls to arrange community resources
for a child with special needs.

Founder of Modern Nursing: Florence Nightingale

 She differentiated nursing from medicine, stating
that the two were distinct practices.

 She defined nursing as putting the person in the best

condition for nature to act, insisting that the focus of
nursing was on health and the natural healing
process, not on disease and reparation.

 creating an environment that provided the

conditions for natural healing to occur was the focus
of nursing.

 Her conceptualizations were the seeds for the

theoretical development of nursing as a professional
discipline.
The Discipline of Nursing
- Donaldson and Crowley (1978) stated that a
discipline “offers a unique perspective, a distinct way
of viewing . . . phenomena, which ultimately defines
the limits and nature of its inquiry”
- The discipline of nursing is formed by a community
of scholars, including nurses in all nursing venues,
who share a commitment to values, knowledge, and
processes to guide the thought and work of the
discipline.