The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the
performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to a
peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength,
will or knowledge. And to do this in such a way as to help him gain
independence as rapidly as possible.
(Henderson 1966 p. 15)
Many have since suggested that Henderson’s definition is insufficiently comprehensive
and alternative definitions appear from time to time. One recent attempt describes
nursing as:
The use of clinical judgement in the provision of care to enable people to
improve, maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems, and to
achieve the best possible quality of life, whatever their disease or disability, until
death.
(RCN 2003 p. 3)
It might be supposed that the differences between these two definitions would be more
striking given the gap of nearly 40 years in their publication. As it stands, the RCN
definition seems to have been largely an exercise in rewording although the addition of
‘clinical judgement’ does give voice to the modem idea of nurses’ autonomous
professional action.
The rise of the idea of nursing as a science.
It is generally supposed that Florence Nightingale was the first nurse to take seriously
the idea that empirical data can be used to underpin nursing practice. Thus we might
identify Nightingale as the originator of evidence-based practice in nursing.
Nevertheless, to those who might further claim Nightingale as the originator of the idea
of nursing as a science we can point to her insistence that nursing is an art (Nightingale
1867). Debates about the nature of nursing have exercised the minds of nursing scholars
since Nightingale’s time and it is not clear that much progress has been made for, at the
present time, not only does the idea of nursing as a science appear to hold a dominant
position but also that the ideological gap between those who take nursing to be a science
and those who think it an art appears wider than ever.
There have been numerous attempts to refine Henderson’s definition and/or to come up
with a new and more comprehensive definition in the pursuit of a set of words that
captures the essence of nursing. Broadly speaking these attempts have followed a
general pattern of what might be called ‘the prevailing approach’ of any given period. In
Nightingale’s time the debate focused upon arguments for and against state registration.
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