On the eve of the 21st century, younger nurses and nursing students have a difficult time imagining what

nursing was like at the turn of 20th. During this century there have been enormous changes in our society, health services and even the concept of a nurse. An investigation of the nursing history archives highlights this. Here is an extract taken directly from a book on nurses and nursing published in the 1890's.

"The qualifications required to be a successful nurse are necessarily of a high order, and this applies not only to the trained nurse, but to her embryo sister who wishes to adopt nursing as a calling. In the first place she must be not only be physically, but constitutionally strong. She must be not only well formed, but must have certain powers of resistance. A girl, for example, who is subject to sick headaches, or who readily "knocks up," will never make a good nurse. The best type of nursing girl is one who is tall and strong, and who has a certain suppleness of movement. One who is accustomed to play lawn-tennis, who can ride, and skate, and row, makes the best material.

If she can dance, especially if she is an enthusiastic dancer, it is a great advantage, for graceful carriage is a thing to be cultivated, and nothing is more distasteful in a sick-room than a suspicion of clumsiness. If in addition to being well formed she is favored with good looks, it is all in her favor, for doctors readily recognize the influence of an attractive person in the management of refractory patients.

Respecting her moral attributes, it may be said that a girl who has been brought up in a country parsonage, and has had little experience of the world, is hardly fitted for hospital work. In the wards she will be brought in constant contact with people of various modes of thought, and if

she is unable to adapt herself to her surroundings, her novitiate will of necessity be a very uncomfortable one.

Nursing should not be undertaken from sentimental motives, or, from any notion of becoming one of the "Guardian Angels" of the novelist. Such an idea will assuredly end in disappointment, for it will be found that the really sick have but a poor appreciation of sentiment, that the routine duties of the sick-room are monotonous and tiresome, and leave but scant time for indulging one's imagination or poetic feelings.

The age at which a nurse should begin her training is a matter concerning which there is some difference of opinion. One authority thinks that the best age is between twenty-five and thirty. This is an entire mistake, for a person who attempts to enter a business or profession at the age of thirty rarely does much at it. Twenty-one is a good age to begin, and forty is a good age at which to retire. A woman is much older than a man at the age of forty, and by that time a woman should have made some permanent provision in life for herself. Few doctors will employ old nurses, and few patients care to have them".

The nursing profession has indeed come a long way. From the initial image of just helpers of doctors, registered nurses has become medical care professionals and has developed their own identity in the medical world. Indeed, the status of nurse all over the world have greatly improves thanks to information dissemination. However, it does not mean that that job of a nurse is any easier. In fact, these days the nurses are facing many challenges. These challenges are diverse. Some are easy to overcome but there are challenges that are complicated and may take a while for the nurses to pass their way through it. As eternal positive thinkers, nurses

know that the profession they entered into was not an easy one. In fact they are fully prepared to face these challenges head on. They know that challenges would be part and parcel of their everyday profession.

One of the challenges that a nurse faces is the violence in the workplace. Lets face it, this job is highly demanding and stressful. It will not be a surprise if temper will flare and exchange of punches will happen. As much as possible this is already being addressed by hospital administration so that this would lessen or disappear altogether.

Since the demand for nurses increases every day, it is not at all surprising that the ratio of nurse to patient is not balanced. There is always a shortage of nurses to tend to patients. Of course, we cannot make the nursing students hurry because we would want that our nurses are trained thoroughly. Fortunately, the prognosis for the future is bright and that the shortage may be met as in the years to come.