Reflective Journal Week 9 - Nursing Across the Ages

 1. What I learned about the time period being studied

From the discussion with my teammates, I learned that sometimes unfortunate events are a catalyst for change and improvement. This idea came from learning that the Great Depression and the wars going on are what helped nursing progress and become a more respected profession. At least there is some good that can come from bad/unfortunate circumstances. 

Another thing I learned is about private duty nurses. These were like home health nurses as we know them today. When the Great Depression started and there was a war, it negatively impacted these people’s jobs. This is because people could no longer afford to have nurses come to their homes, as this was more expensive than going to be treated at the hospital. 

From my literature search, I learned about major event in nursing during this time period like nurses receiving relative rank, veterans bureau nursing service was established, the committee on the grading of nursing school begins, nurse midwifery schools open, and financial depression starts in 1929.

2. How I will utilize the information learned in my nursing practice

How I will use this information in my nursing practice is to remember to look for the good in bad situations. Even in bad situations, there is commonly good that can be found. Also, private duty nurses losing their jobs is kind of what happened to the field of nursing I work in when the corona virus outbreak occurred. Since we are in surgical services dealing mostly with elective surgeries, those were put on hold during covid. This resulted in nurses having to work on the floor or finding other places to work during the pandemic. I wasn’t working at the time, but I am worried if anything like that ever happens again, I could be out of work!

3. My personal feelings about the time period being covered

This sounds like a really hard time period. In times like theirs, I’m sure it took a tole on people’s physical health as well. This would be a very important time to be a nurse, because they were so needed at this time. I am also glad that during this time period the Committee on the Grading of Nursing School began. I’m sure this contributed to the professionalism of nursing.