FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
Introduction to nursing
■ What is nursing?
o describe the nurse as a person who nourishes,
fosters, and protects and who is prepared to take
care of sick, injured, aged, and dying people.
o With the expanding roles and functions of the
nurse in today’s society, however, any one
definition may be too limited.
■ The International Council of Nurses (ICN) captures
much of what nursing means in its definition:
o Nursing encompasses autonomous and
collaborative care of individuals of all ages,
families, groups, and communities, sick or well
and in all settings.
o Nursing includes the promotion of health,
prevention of illness, and the care of ill,
disabled, and dying people.
o Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment,
research, participation in shaping health policy
and in patient and health systems management,
and education are also key nursing roles.
• Theory of animism
• Good spirits brought health; evil spirits brought
sickness and death.
• Roles of nurse and physician separate and
distinct: physician as medicine man; nurse as
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
caring mother.
How did nursing as a profession begin?
■ Ancient Greek civilization
o Temples became center of medical care.
o Nurses cared for the sick in the home and
community; practiced as nurse-midwives.
o Early Christian period
o Nursing has formal and more clearly
defined role; deaconesses made visits to
the sick.
o Nursing developed purpose, direction, and
leadership.
■ 16th century
o Shift from a religious orientation to an
emphasis on warfare, exploration, and
expansion of knowledge
o Nursing had a poor reputation; nurses received
low pay and worked long hours in unfavorable
conditions.
o Social reforms changed the roles of nurses and of
women in general.
o Nursing as we now know it began, based on
many of the beliefs of Florence Nightingale.
■ Florence Nightingale:
o Nightingale challenged prejudices against
women and elevated the status of all nurses.
o She established the first training school for
nurses, and wrote books about health care and
nursing education.
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
o Defined nursing as both an art and a science,
differentiated nursing from medicine, created
freestanding nursing education; published books
about nursing and health care; is regarded as the
founder of modern nursing (see text for further
information)
Definition of Nursing
o Originated from the Latin word nutrix (to nourish)
o ICN definition—Promotion of health, prevention of
illness, collaborative care
o ANA definition—Social policy statement
o Patient is central focus of all definitions
o Includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual
dimensions of the patient.
■ The central focus in all definitions of nursing is the
patient (the person receiving care), which includes the
physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions
of that person.
■ Nursing is no longer considered to be
concerned primarily with illness care.
■ Nursing’s concepts and definitions have expanded to
include the prevention of illness and the promotion
and maintenance of health for individuals, families, and
communities.
Nursing’s Aims and competencies, Health
■ Four Aims of Nursing Practice:
Four broad aims of nursing practice can be identified in the
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
definitions of nursing:
o To promote health
o To prevent illness
o To restore health
o To facilitate coping with disability or death
■ What is health?
o Health is a state of optimal functioning or well-
being.
o As defined by the World Health Organization
(WHO), one’s health includes physical, social,
and mental components and is not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
o Health is often a subjective state—a person
may be medically diagnosed with an illness
but still consider oneself healthy.
o Wellness, a term that is often associated with
health, is an active state of being healthy by
living a lifestyle that promotes good physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
■ How does the nurse promote health?
o Facilitates decisions about lifestyle that enhance
quality of life and encourage acceptance of
responsibility for one’s own health
o Increases health awareness by assisting in the
understanding that health is more than just not
being ill, and by teaching that certain behaviors
and factors can contribute to or diminish health
o Teaches self-care activities to maximize
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
Introduction to nursing
■ What is nursing?
o describe the nurse as a person who nourishes,
fosters, and protects and who is prepared to take
care of sick, injured, aged, and dying people.
o With the expanding roles and functions of the
nurse in today’s society, however, any one
definition may be too limited.
■ The International Council of Nurses (ICN) captures
much of what nursing means in its definition:
o Nursing encompasses autonomous and
collaborative care of individuals of all ages,
families, groups, and communities, sick or well
and in all settings.
o Nursing includes the promotion of health,
prevention of illness, and the care of ill,
disabled, and dying people.
o Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment,
research, participation in shaping health policy
and in patient and health systems management,
and education are also key nursing roles.
• Theory of animism
• Good spirits brought health; evil spirits brought
sickness and death.
• Roles of nurse and physician separate and
distinct: physician as medicine man; nurse as
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
caring mother.
How did nursing as a profession begin?
■ Ancient Greek civilization
o Temples became center of medical care.
o Nurses cared for the sick in the home and
community; practiced as nurse-midwives.
o Early Christian period
o Nursing has formal and more clearly
defined role; deaconesses made visits to
the sick.
o Nursing developed purpose, direction, and
leadership.
■ 16th century
o Shift from a religious orientation to an
emphasis on warfare, exploration, and
expansion of knowledge
o Nursing had a poor reputation; nurses received
low pay and worked long hours in unfavorable
conditions.
o Social reforms changed the roles of nurses and of
women in general.
o Nursing as we now know it began, based on
many of the beliefs of Florence Nightingale.
■ Florence Nightingale:
o Nightingale challenged prejudices against
women and elevated the status of all nurses.
o She established the first training school for
nurses, and wrote books about health care and
nursing education.
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
o Defined nursing as both an art and a science,
differentiated nursing from medicine, created
freestanding nursing education; published books
about nursing and health care; is regarded as the
founder of modern nursing (see text for further
information)
Definition of Nursing
o Originated from the Latin word nutrix (to nourish)
o ICN definition—Promotion of health, prevention of
illness, collaborative care
o ANA definition—Social policy statement
o Patient is central focus of all definitions
o Includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual
dimensions of the patient.
■ The central focus in all definitions of nursing is the
patient (the person receiving care), which includes the
physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions
of that person.
■ Nursing is no longer considered to be
concerned primarily with illness care.
■ Nursing’s concepts and definitions have expanded to
include the prevention of illness and the promotion
and maintenance of health for individuals, families, and
communities.
Nursing’s Aims and competencies, Health
■ Four Aims of Nursing Practice:
Four broad aims of nursing practice can be identified in the
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
, FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
definitions of nursing:
o To promote health
o To prevent illness
o To restore health
o To facilitate coping with disability or death
■ What is health?
o Health is a state of optimal functioning or well-
being.
o As defined by the World Health Organization
(WHO), one’s health includes physical, social,
and mental components and is not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
o Health is often a subjective state—a person
may be medically diagnosed with an illness
but still consider oneself healthy.
o Wellness, a term that is often associated with
health, is an active state of being healthy by
living a lifestyle that promotes good physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
■ How does the nurse promote health?
o Facilitates decisions about lifestyle that enhance
quality of life and encourage acceptance of
responsibility for one’s own health
o Increases health awareness by assisting in the
understanding that health is more than just not
being ill, and by teaching that certain behaviors
and factors can contribute to or diminish health
o Teaches self-care activities to maximize
FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING EXAM LATEST
UPDATES 2022/2023 GRADED A+ STUDY GUIDE
