Sample Informative Speech Outline
Your Name: Ceara Millas
Topic: Evolution of Nursing
General Purpose: To inform.
Specific Purpose: I will inform you all on how nursing evolved from basic care giving to having immense technological advances and excellent patient care.
Thesis Statement: I will inform the audience about how nursing has changed over the years.
Organizational Pattern: Chronological
Visual Aids: Power Point Presentation & Pictures
Introduction
I. Attention Getter: How many of you currently have a career in the medical field? Now, how many of you are a nurse or working to become a nurse?
II. Thesis Statement: I will inform the audience about how nursing has changed over the years.
III. Relevance: This topic will connect to the audience, because I am sure that several people in this class are in school to become a nurse, including myself.
IV. Credibility Statement: I will be using credible sources and properly citing them in APA format.
Ex.) American Nursing: An Introduction to the Past (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https:// www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/american-nursing-an-introduction-to-the-past/
V. Preview: Today, I’m going to talk to you all about how nursing has evolved since its beginning stages.
A. Beginning stages of nursing
B. Important events/people through the centuries
C. Important features of nursing today
D. Duties of nurses (early stages)
E. Duties of nurses (today)
[Transition: Let’s begin.]
Body
A. Beginning stages of nursing
• It was one of the first professions in history.
o We are born with the instinct to nurture and care for others
♣ Women were made care-givers due to the fact that they were known to care for their children.
o Care-givers were not trained
♣ Wet nurses- Breast fed and cared for infants
♣ Nuns- Ill people trusted them due to religious beliefs
• Prayer for healing
♣ Slaves, poor people, and promiscuous women
• They had no other choice
• They had to do the job that no one else cared to do.
o The Daughters of Charity were founded by Saint Vincent de Paul.
♣ Women who cared for the needy and deprived people in their towns
B. Important events/people throughout the century
• 18th Century
o First hospital in the United States
o Nurses in the Revolutionary war
o Slave works as nurse to become free
• 19th Century
o Dorothea Dix working to stop mistreatment of mentally ill
o Nurses in Crimean War
o Florence Nightingale
♣ “Notes on Nursing
o First nurse uniforms
o Nurses during the Civil War
o Soujourner Truth
♣ Cleaning practices education
o Linda Richards became the first trained nurse
o The Red Cross was established
o Founding of the Visiting Nurse Service
• 20th Century
o “American Journal of Nursing” was published for nursing profession research
o States began requiring nurses to become licensed
o Nursing at public schools began
o United States Naval Nursing Corps was founded
o Nursing during World War I
o Founding of National Birth Control League
♣ Beginning of Planned Parenthood
o Frontier Nursing Service was founded
o Nursing during World War II
o Nursing for the ICU and critical care
o Nursing during Vietnam War
o First nurse practioner program was began
• Today
o Great technological advancements have been made
♣ Ex.) Portable medical intruments
• Ultrasounds
• Defibrilators
o Health care is based on evidence-based practive
♣ Utilizing prior known research and experience to care for future patients
[Transition: Now that you have a better understanding of key events and people in the field of nursing, lets discuss the duties nurses performed in the beginning stages of nursing compared to the duties of nurses today.]
C. Duties of nurses (early stages)
♣ People only cared for their loved-ones
o Friends and family
♣ Home remedies are used for treatment
o Learned from watching their elders
o Healing plants/herbs
♣ Prayer
o Illness and injury was thought to be caused by God being upset with you.
♣ Trial & Error
D. Duties of nurses (today)
¥ Refer to patient’s health history
¥ In depth knowledge of patient
¥ Perform physical exams
¥ Bloods tests, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, etc.
¥ Educate the patient about maintaining their health
¥ Administer medications
¥ Capsule pills
¥ Injections
¥ Disinfecting and maintaining clean wounds
¥ Creating a healthy & calming environment
¥ Supporting patients and families physically and psychologically
¥ Following safety protocols
¥ Documenting patient’s reports
¥ Adding to their health history data for future reference
¥ Communicating with other health care professionals
¥ Discussing diagnosis and treatment of patients
¥ Research & keeping up to date with medical findings
¥ Improves ability to care for patients
Conclusion
I. Signal Ending: In conclusion, I have informed you all on historic events people of nursing, their duties, and how nursing has changed over the years.
II. Restatement of Thesis: I will inform the audience about how nursing has changed over the years.
III. Review/Summary of Main Points: Today we have gone over six main points:
A. Beginning stages of nursing
B. Important events/people through the centuries
C. Important features of nursing today
D. Duties of nurses (early stages)
E. Duties of nurses (today)
IV. Concluding Remarks/Memorable Final Statement: My speech should have helped everyone understand how drastically nursing has changed over the years and how hard working nurses are. I hope next time you come across a nurse, you acknowledge how far their profession has come. Thank you!
Works Cited
Academic/Scholarly Journal:
Joan, M. (1918). History of Nursing. The American Journal of Nursing,18(9), 820.
doi:10.2307/3405676
Book:
Mason, D. J., Isaacs, S. L., & Colby, D. C. (2011). The nursing profession: development,
challenges, and opportunities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Roux, G. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2009). Issues and trends in nursing: essential knowledge for
today and tomorrow. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Newspaper/Magazine:
North Carolina the First State to Require Trained Nurses to be Liscensed. (1903, March
04). Raleigh News and Observer.
Websites:
American Nursing: An Introduction to the Past. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/american-nursing-an-introduction-to-the-past/
The History of Nursing as a Profession. (2013, October 15). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
http://www.nursingprograms.com/the-history-of-nursing
Nursing in the 1800s: A timeline and job description. (2017, November 01). Retrieved March 03,
2018, from https://advancedmedicalcertification.com/nursing-in-the-nineteenth-century/
Allured, J. L. (n.d.). “Women’s Healing Art: Domestic Medicine in the Turn-of-the-Century
Ozarks”. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/articles/Ozarks.htm
What Nurses Do. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
http://www.nursingworld.org/EspeciallyForYou/What-is-Nursing/Tools-You-Need/RNsAPNs.html
R. (n.d.). 19 Technologies That Changed Nursing Forever. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
http://www.jobsatrush.com/19-technologies-that-changed-nursing-forever.html
Why evidence-based practice matters to students. (2017, April 07). Retrieved March 03, 2018,
from https://www.nurse.com/blog/2017/02/22/why-evidence-based-practice-matters-to-students-alexanders-student-blog/