Nursing Now And Then
As we celebrate Nurses Week, Business Insider recently published an article titled “Then and Now: Here’s How Being a Nurse Has Changed in The Last 50 Year.”
1. In 2019, nurses not only make up the largest work force in health care but it is one of the fastest growing industries in the country.
2. In the 1960s, nurses were “treated as hand maidens of physicians.” We were expected to carry out their orders without question. Now, nurses are required to question physicians’ orders when deemed necessary.
3. In 1978, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing was not in existence.
4. In 1960, there were only 172 college-based nursing programs in the U.S., but now there are 674 Bachelor’s programs being offered.
5. Today we get to wear scrubs instead of white dresses with caps and stockings.
6. Over 30 years ago, the average stay for a cataract patient was 7 days. Today they go home the same day of surgery.
7. Record keeping has also changed. The U.S. government spent $19,200,000,000.00 to increase the use of electronic health records.
8. In 2017, 19.1% of Registered Nurses were minorities and 9.1% were men.
Click here to read more from the Business Insider article.
It’s pleasing to see how far we have come, but we still have a way to go. Such as getting full practice authority for Nurse Practitioners. Things certainly have changed greatly since I began practicing in 1982.
I would love to read any thoughts you might have about changes in the practice if you would be kind enough to put them below.
