Week 11

This week in the history of nursing, the role of nurses really started to look a lot more familiar. During the 1940's-60's changes began to happen that gave nurses more autonomy so they started to look more like the R.N.'s of today rather than the glorified tech's of the past. Out of necessity during WWII and the Korean war nurses were given much more responsibility of their patients safety and status. As surgical techniques and technology advanced nurses followed their doctors to provide new forms of support and better care for patients. One of the little tid bits of information that I found terrifying this week is that during the Vietnam war (and probably during the Korean war as well) the majority of nurses who served had less than two years worth of experience. In effect they were nursing novices, babies of their profession fresh out of the womb of nursing knowledge and off to create havoc for their poor patients.  I am not trying to say they were untrained and ill prepared, but I imagine they were just that. Having worked in health care myself with over 10 years of experience, I can tell you that so much of what you learn doesn't come from a book. It comes from hands on patient care and patient mentors who are willing to guide you through the process. This situation however, sounds like a large baptism by fire fest for nurses. I am all at once jealous of their tremendous opportunity in learning and fearful in hindsight for their inexperience.

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