The " Nursing Class Hero "

This post was originally published on June 24th, 2013. It has been slightly edited and updated for your edification and enjoyment. Fans of the late John Lennon might bristle at my adulteration of the title of a famous song by the iconic musician and peace activist, but a "nursing class hero" is certainly something to be.Listening to Lennon ' s "Working Class Hero " , I realized that, aside from being a great play on words, "Nursing Class Hero" could also be a fitting and interesting way to explore our profession from a novel perspective.Nursing and ClassBack in the day, nursing was a non-professional, relatively unskilled form of labor wherein nurses were at the beck and call of all-powerful physicians.Over a long period of time, the nursing profession lacked any quantifiable scientific data or practices that verifiably documented our contributions, thus we were relegated to a working class existence without significant recognition, remuneration or respect (the "Three R ' s" which I have identified).Despite the fact that Florence Nightingale is credited by many scholars with essentially inventing the notion of public health (even though she reportedly did not not readily embrace the germ theory), nursing remained in the background of healthcare for decades.During the 20th century, nursing was often considered a "pink collar" job, meaning that it was generally a profession/vocation pursued mostly by women (and men who couldn ' t manage to become doctors because they ...
Source: Digital Doorway - Category: Nursing Tags: health care healthcare delivery medical care medicine nurse nurse careers nurse education nurse identity nurse practitioners nurse professionalism nurses ' image nursing nursing practice Source Type: blogs