Nurses and Family Health
NCFR staff member Nancy Gonzalez asked me to write a blog for the NCFR website pertaining to National Nurses Week which is May 6 - 12. She also asked me to talk about nurses and families. I begin my brief comments with a little information about nursing in general, and then I discuss how NCFR was important in the development of family health care nursing.
Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals in the U.S. They serve as the backbone of America's health care system. In acknowledgement of the contributions that nurses make to America's health, in 1982 President Reagan signed a resolution to make May 6 the official "National Recognition Day for Nurses." By 1990, this one day was expanded to be a year week-long celebration by the American Nurses Association (ANA). May 12 marks the end of National Nurses Week, on the actual birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
As of 2012 there are 2,090,357 licensed registered nurses in the U.S. The majority of these nurses are Caucasian, female, and working within hospitals and other health care agencies. A nursing shortage has been well-documented, and this shortage continues to increase over time due to the aging population of nurses. Educational institutions all over the U.S. have tried to make up for this nursing shortage by increasing the numbers of schools of nursing and the numbers of students. This shortage is exacerbated by the aging of and shortage of nursing faculty to teach students and the salaries paid to nursing educators versus nursing clinicians.
What is "family nursing?"
Nurses have always been involved with in health care and health education of families in agencies and throughout the community in American history. It was not until more recent times starting in the early 1980s, that the nursing profession began to identify a specialty called Family Nursing or Family Health Care Nursing.
Nursing has historically focused on individuals or communities, but only recently has placed more emphasis on addressing health care needs of families. New terminology and ideas came into being as a way of expressing the concept that nurses take care of families. Family nursing, family health care nursing, and family-centered nursing care were just a few ways of expressing this paradigm shift taking place within the nursing profession.
This newer broader philosophy of approaching nursing care of families could thought of as (1) the family as context, (2) the family as a whole, (3) the family as a system, or (4) the family as a component of society. There are examples of nurses serving in all four approaches to family nursing, and they all denote families focus. Hanson (2005) wrote that "family health and family nursing should be the overall umbrella concept that influences all of nursing practice no matters which specialty or setting or role."
NCFR and family nursing
NCFR as an organization served as a magnet to bring together the early nurses and physicians interested in families. I joined NCFR in 1979 because it appeared to be the home of many family scholars from a number of disciplines, roles, and ages. I had just finished my PhD/post doctoral training in family research when I came to my first NCFR meeting. NCFR became my professional home, and I have been to almost every annual meeting for over 30 years. I was delighted to meet other family scholars, academicians, and clinicians belonging to NCFR, the authors of the family textbooks, and especially other health care professionals such as myself (physicians and nurses). We were all drawn to the family focus of this dynamic professional association.
Out of that growing group of NCFR health care members, the family nursing interest group in particular, led to the formulation of the now existing Family and Health Section. Having been a part of that formulation, the Family and Health Section embraces all family professionals who have an interest in family health theory, research, practice, and family social policy.
The Family and Health Section of NCFR has continued to grow and flourish since its onset, but the numbers of family nurses and family physicians in that section have diminished. The reasons for this could be the subject of another blog. I am of the opinion that the concept of family health got started and somewhat solidified within NCFR, but it quickly went to other organizations within the nursing and medical professions. For example, many professional nursing organizations made way to include a family nursing track, specialty, or interest, etc. The National Family Nursing Conference started in the United States, and several years later became the 1st International Family Nursing Conferences(IFNC) and was held in Canada. From there this new group (IFNC) took hold internationally, and now envelops the international community of family nursing scholars. Important to this development period was the startup of the Journal of Family Nursing. Janice Bell, a NCFR Member for years, was the first and still existing editor of this growing and influential journal in family nursing.
The original group promoting the International Family Nursing Conferences (IFNC), eventually withdrew from NCFR to formulate their own family focused nursing organizations. Within the last 2-3 years, the International Family Nursing Association (IFNA) morphed out of the IFNC and was aided by external funding from the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society given to Minnesota State University-Mankato. It was through this funding, that the IFNA was able to get off the ground.
So where did I start and where have I finished for the sake of this blog? I started talking about National Nurses Day and National Nurses week. I talked about the shortage of nurses to take care of individuals and families in the future. I mentioned the shortage of nurses and schools to prepare this future segment of health care professionals.
I then tracked my own personal history of involvement with NCFR and how NCFR served as the catalyst for families and family nursing as it moved quickly to other levels within our profession.
The bottom line for me as writer of this blog, is to tell you how important NCFR has been in the making of family nursing and where it is today. I am saddened that it sometimes feels like competition of loyalties, but I for one will never forget my roots in NCFR and what that gave me to take to family nursing. On the eve of National Nurses Day/National Nurses Week I am proud to be a family nurse and an activist in NCFR. I have been among those NCFR members and health care providers who helped to take this family and health movement forward. I remain faithful and grateful to NCFR for the gifts they gave me as a family scientist for health care.
Shirley M.H. Hanson, RN, PhD, PMHNP/ARNP, FAAN, CFLE, LMFT
Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing
Oregon Health & Science University
Adjunct Faculty, College of Nursing
Washington State University
hansonshirley@comcast.net
REFERENCES
- Hanson, S.M.H.,Gedaly-Duff, V., & Kaakinen, J.. (Eds) (2005). Family health care nursing: Theory, practice and research. Third edition. Philadelphia: FA Davis.
- Kaakinen, J.R., Gedaly-Duff, V., Coehlo, D.P. , & Hanson, S.M.H. (Eds.) 2010. Family health care nursing: Theory, practice and research. Fourth edition. Philadelphia: FA Davis.
Email
Tweet
Share on Facebook
Share on Google+
Pin it