Historical Perspectives: Animism in Healthcare

Research Design and Quantitative Research

• Quantitative research involves the analysis of numbers and data, whereas qualitative research involves the analysis of words and narratives
• Basic research, also known as pure or laboratory research, aims to generate and refine theory, and its findings are often not directly useful in practice
• Applied research, also known as practical research, aims to directly influence or improve clinical practice
• In quantitative research, a variable is something that varies and has different values that can be measured
• A dependent variable is the variable being studied, which is determined as a result of a study
• An independent variable is a condition that is manipulated or identified to determine its effect on the dependent variable

Types of Quantitative Research

• Descriptive research: explores and describes events in real-life situations, identifying relationships between and among events
• Correlational research: examines the type and degree of relationships between two or more variables
• Quasi-experimental research: examines cause-and-effect relationships between selected variables, often in clinical settings
• Experimental research: examines cause-and-effect relationships between variables under highly controlled conditions, often in a laboratory setting

Protection of Human Subjects

• Informed consent: the patient's right to consent knowingly to participate in a study without coercion
• Confidentiality: the right to keep personal information private
• Protection from harm: the researcher's responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of participants
• Christine Grady's seven requirements for evaluating the ethics of clinical research:
  • Value enhancement
  • Scientific validity
  • Fair subject selection
  • Favorable risk-benefit ratio
  • Independent review
  • Informed consent
  • Respect for enrolled subjects

Evidence-Based Practice

• PICOT framework: helps nurses search for evidence by identifying:
  • Patient/Population of interest
  • Intervention of interest
  • Comparison of interest
  • Outcome of interest
  • Time frame for the study
• Steps in evidence-based practice:
  1. Formulate a burning clinical question
  2. Search for the best evidence
  3. Critically appraise the evidence
  4. Integrate the evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences
  5. Evaluate the outcomes of the practice change
  6. Disseminate the outcomes of the EBP change

History of Nursing

• Deaconesses made the first organized visits to sick people in the Middle Ages
• Florence Nightingale:
  • Established the first training school for nurses
  • Wrote books about health care and nursing education
  • Contributed to the development of modern nursing
  • Recognized the importance of nutrition, occupational and recreational therapy, and continuing education for nurses

Aims of Nursing Practice

• Four broad aims of nursing practice:
  1. To promote health
  2. To prevent illness
  3. To restore health
  4. To facilitate coping with disability or death

Health and Wellness

• Health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being
• Wellness: an active state of being healthy, including living a lifestyle that promotes good physical, mental, and emotional health
• Disease: a medical term, referring to pathologic changes in the structure or function of the body or mind
• Illness: the response of the person to a disease; a process in which the person's level of functioning is changed when compared with a previous level
• Classification of illness: acute or chronic
• Stages of behavior:
  1. Experiencing symptoms
  2. Assuming the sick role
  3. Assuming a dependent role
  4. Achieving recovery and rehabilitation### Historical Perspectives on Nursing
• Early civilizations believed that illness had supernatural causes, leading to the theory of animism which attributed health and sickness to good and evil spirits
• In ancient times, the healthcare provider was the medicine man who treated disease by chanting, inspiring fear, or opening the skull to release evil spirits
• The nurse played a nurturing and caring role, providing physical care and herbal remedies to sick family members
• As ancient Greek civilizations grew, temples became the centers of medical care, with the belief that illness was caused by sin and the gods' displeasure
• The ancient Hebrews developed rules for ethical human relationships, mental health, and disease control, with nurses caring for sick people in the home and community as nurse-midwives
• In the early Christian period, nursing began to have a formal and more clearly defined role in society

Roles of the Nurse

• Communicator: uses effective interpersonal and therapeutic communication skills to establish and maintain helping relationships with patients
• Teacher: uses communication skills to assess, implement, and evaluate individualized teaching plans to meet learning needs of patients and their families
• Counselor: uses therapeutic interpersonal communication skills to provide information, make appropriate referrals, and facilitate the patient's problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Leader: practices nursing with assertiveness and self-confidence, effecting change and functioning with groups
• Researcher: participates in or conducts research to increase knowledge in nursing and improve patient care
• Advocate: protects human or legal rights and secures care for all patients based on the belief that patients have the right to make informed decisions about their own health and lives
• Collaborator: uses skills in organization, communication, and advocacy to facilitate the functions of all members of the health care team as they provide patient care
• Caregiver: combines both the art and the science of nursing to promote wellness through activities that prevent illness, restore health, and facilitate coping with disability or death

Nursing Practice Act and Licensure

• The Nurse Practice Act and Licensure provide guidelines for nursing practice
• Code of Ethics and Professional Values outline the responsibilities of nurses
• The nursing process and clinical judgment models guide nursing practice

Historical Figures in Nursing

• Florence Nightingale: developed a nursing theory, defined nursing practice as separate and distinct, and differentiated between health and illness nursing
• Nightingale's initiatives: efficient and knowledgeable care, defining nursing practice, and developing a nursing theory

Theories in Nursing

• General Systems Theory: breaks whole things into parts to understand how they work together in systems
• Adaptation Theory: defines adaptation as the adjustment of living matter to other living things and to environmental conditions
• Developmental Theory: outlines the process of growth and development of humans as orderly and predictable, beginning with conception and ending with death
• Self-Care in Nursing: nurses have the same duties to themselves as to others, including promoting health and safety, preserving wholeness of character and integrity, maintaining competence, and continuing personal and professional growth

Methods of Research in Nursing

• Quantitative Research: focuses on numeric data and statistical analysis
• Qualitative Research: gains insight by discovering meanings, with reality based on perceptions that differ for each person and change over time