Nursing Education - The Importance of Nurses Having an Education

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Why Nursing Education Is So Important

In the 19th century, many nurses in the UK were women who had no knowledge of hygiene and often nursed their patients in filthy conditions in hospitals so filthy that more people died in them than were ever cured.

With the advent of Florence Nightingale came a radical change in how nurses were chosen, and it was also the time when nursing education was introduced to all hospitals with the advent of new laws and hospital boards being established.

Today, it seems amazing that people could be so unaware of important basic hygiene standards, yet it took many years for levels of hygiene in most hospitals to rise to a more acceptable standard. This new adherence to hygiene standards was directly due to the introduction of nursing education.

One of the biggest milestones was when it was decided that all nurses should be formally trained. However a nursing student of today could be forgiven for not realising how totally different the nursing education at present differs from that of over a hundred years ago.

Now, students receive much of their education within a university environment though they do have placements on hospital areas. Even then, they are restricted as to what they are allowed to do on the wards as their educators are keen to ensure they continue their nursing education on the wards, and are not just used as a pair of extra hands.

A good nursing education is considered essential to equip a newly qualified nurse to work within an acute area in a hospital. If a new nurse hasn’t been taught the basics of good nursing care they will have very real problems adapting to life within a hospital environment.

However, it is not just qualified staff who should receive a nursing education. It is also important that nursing assistants and auxiliary nurses also receive the basics in good nursing care. They should be taught how to move, wash and communicate with people, as these are not always inherent skills – but learned ones.

A good ward manager today would ensure all their staff received a continuous nursing education. They could then be confident that the patients in their care were being cared for by motivated and knowledgeable staff.