Middle Ages

Throughout the 10th and 11th centuries, the nursing profession expanded due to
changes in rulings in Europe. Hospitals began to be included as part of
monasteries and other religious places and the nurses provided a range of
medical care services, as was required, even beyond traditional healthcare.
During the middle ages (1100-1200 AD) charitable institutions were started to
care for the aged, sick and poor. Nurses delivered care and depended on
physicians or priest for direction. Nurse Midwifery flourished during middle
ages.

Fifteenth to Nineteenth Century

At the beginning of the 17th century, the nursing as a profession was rare due
to various reasons, such as the closing of monasteries that housed the hospitals.
However, in some regions of Europe where the Catholic Church remained in
power, the hospitals remained and nurses retained their role.

The expanded health care by establishing hospitals and nursing orders for men.
Christianity greatly influenced the development of nursing. One of the earliest
records of Christian nursing was the formation of the order of Deaconesses, a
group of public health or visiting nurses. The first known Christian nurse,
Phoebe. During the early years of the Christian Church, St. Paul sent a
deaconess named Phoebe to Rome as the first visiting nurse.
The need for nurses and increasing nursing responsibilities were due to the
economic growth of eighteenth century, epidemics and the revolutionary war.
The sisters became widely known as visiting nurses because they cared for sick
people in their homes.

In the eighteenth century the further growth of cities brought an increase in the
number of hospitals and expanded role of nurses. The formal nursing education,
nursing knowledge and skills were generally passed by experienced nurses.
During the nineteenth century protestant churches revived the Deaconess order.

Modern nursing
The Lady with the Lamp:

She is also refer as “The Lady with the Lamp”. In 1860, she laid the foundation
of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St
Thomas’ Hospital London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world.
Annual International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday. Florence
Nightingale, established the first nursing philosophy based on health
maintenance and restoration in Notes of Nursing: What it is and what it is not.

Florence Nightingale was a nurse who tended to injured soldiers in the Crimean
War in the 1850s and played a significant role in changing the nature of the
nursing profession in the 19th century. During this time, the role of nurses
continued to expand due to the need for their presence on the front lines of wars,
where poor hygiene standards often led to fatal infections in the injuries.
Nightingale campaigned for improved hygiene standards in the hospital
attending the wounded soldiers, which drastically reduced the number of deaths
from infections. During the civil war, nursing services given to soldiers on the
battle field, cleansing the wounds, meeting their basic needs and comforting
them in death.

The profession of nursing was pushed further forward in 1860 with the opening
of the very first nursing school in London. This was the beginning of many
other schools for new nurses so that they received appropriate training and
education before they began practice on the field. Nursing in hospitals expanded
in the late nineteenth century.

TWENTITH CENTURY

The need for nurses expanded with the world wars in the twentieth century, and
many nurses were required to begin providing care without adequate training.
Since this time, education institutions for nurses have continued to expand. In
the early twentieth century, a movement toward a scientific, research-based
defined body of nursing knowledge and practice was seen. Nurses began to
assume expanded and advance practice roles.

As education developed, nursing practice also expanded. In 1901 the Army

Nurse Corps was established. By the year 1908 Navy Corps established. By the
year 1920s nursing specialization was developing. Today, the profession is
faced with multiple challenges. Nurses and nurse educators are revising practice
and curriculum to meeting the ever changing needs of society.

The profession has also branched out into various specializations with further
education in particular fields of nursing care, such as pediatrics or oncology.