1
Introduction
Graduate nursing education provides nurses with the advanced knowledge, clinical
abilities, and leadership skills to meet the growing complexity needs of patients and healthcare
systems. Individuals who seek a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) are ready to take up
specialized positions that focus on evidence-based practice, patient-focused care, and
interdisciplinary teamwork. Graduate-level nurses should understand the historical and political
factors that have affected nursing practice because they influence the standards of the profession,
education, and clinical roles over time. Professional nursing bodies and frameworks like the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials offer guidelines toward the
pursuit of advanced practice, scholarship, and leadership. The paper will discuss how political
stakeholders and historical figures in nursing contributed to the history of infection control in
nursing specialty, outline some of the historic events in the nursing field, and how professional
organizations contribute to career development. It also describes my long and short-term career
objectives. Finally, it explores how MSN degree will influence the realization of these goals.
Nursing Historical Figure Political Stakeholder.
Barack Obama is one of the prominent political stakeholders whose leadership resulted in
the passing of the Affordable Care Act. This healthcare reform had a remarkable impact on the
advanced nursing practice as it opened access to quality affordable healthcare to millions of
Americans and raised the demand of primary care providers, such as the advanced practice
nurses (Campbell et al., 2020). A good effect of this policy was the establishment of nurse
practitioners and other advanced practice nurses as necessary providers that would assist in
dealing with a physician shortage and enhance the accessibility of healthcare. Consequently,
nurse graduates have had more chances of working in more broad roles and assist in patient-
, 2
centered care. Nevertheless, the downside of the policy is that the rapid increase in coverage has
led to higher demands on healthcare services more rapidly than the workforce, which has
subjected healthcare providers to more workloads and system strains.
Florence Nightingale is one of the influential historical figures in nursing. Nightingale
transformed nursing with the Crimean War through reforms on sanitation, data and patient-
oriented care. Her efforts made nursing a worthy profession and a blueprint of formal nursing
education. Among the positive effects of her work include the evolution of evidence-based
practice principles that remain relevant in graduate-level nursing practice nowadays (Pattison et
al., 2022). Nevertheless, a weakness of her impact is that the early models of nursing paid much
attention to the hierarchy of healthcare systems, which initially restrained the freedom of nurses
in clinical decision-making.
Historical Events Timeline of Specialty Area
Infection prevention and control has developed over the years because of various
historical events that have influenced the current nursing practice. The development of the Germ
Theory of Disease in the 19th century is one of the foundations; pioneered by Louis Pasteur and
Robert Koch (Scott et al., 2020). The findings revolutionized healthcare by providing the
foundation that microorganisms cause infections. These results informed the invention of
sterilization techniques, hand washing and infection control measures. In case of graduate-level
nurses, this emphasizes the significance of evidence-based infection prevention approaches in
clinical practice.
The other important incident was the epidemic of HIV/AIDS worldwide (from June
1981) as it demonstrated the necessity of strict infection control measures like universal
precautions. This event has changed the nursing practice as it brought the importance of
Introduction
Graduate nursing education provides nurses with the advanced knowledge, clinical
abilities, and leadership skills to meet the growing complexity needs of patients and healthcare
systems. Individuals who seek a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) are ready to take up
specialized positions that focus on evidence-based practice, patient-focused care, and
interdisciplinary teamwork. Graduate-level nurses should understand the historical and political
factors that have affected nursing practice because they influence the standards of the profession,
education, and clinical roles over time. Professional nursing bodies and frameworks like the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials offer guidelines toward the
pursuit of advanced practice, scholarship, and leadership. The paper will discuss how political
stakeholders and historical figures in nursing contributed to the history of infection control in
nursing specialty, outline some of the historic events in the nursing field, and how professional
organizations contribute to career development. It also describes my long and short-term career
objectives. Finally, it explores how MSN degree will influence the realization of these goals.
Nursing Historical Figure Political Stakeholder.
Barack Obama is one of the prominent political stakeholders whose leadership resulted in
the passing of the Affordable Care Act. This healthcare reform had a remarkable impact on the
advanced nursing practice as it opened access to quality affordable healthcare to millions of
Americans and raised the demand of primary care providers, such as the advanced practice
nurses (Campbell et al., 2020). A good effect of this policy was the establishment of nurse
practitioners and other advanced practice nurses as necessary providers that would assist in
dealing with a physician shortage and enhance the accessibility of healthcare. Consequently,
nurse graduates have had more chances of working in more broad roles and assist in patient-
, 2
centered care. Nevertheless, the downside of the policy is that the rapid increase in coverage has
led to higher demands on healthcare services more rapidly than the workforce, which has
subjected healthcare providers to more workloads and system strains.
Florence Nightingale is one of the influential historical figures in nursing. Nightingale
transformed nursing with the Crimean War through reforms on sanitation, data and patient-
oriented care. Her efforts made nursing a worthy profession and a blueprint of formal nursing
education. Among the positive effects of her work include the evolution of evidence-based
practice principles that remain relevant in graduate-level nursing practice nowadays (Pattison et
al., 2022). Nevertheless, a weakness of her impact is that the early models of nursing paid much
attention to the hierarchy of healthcare systems, which initially restrained the freedom of nurses
in clinical decision-making.
Historical Events Timeline of Specialty Area
Infection prevention and control has developed over the years because of various
historical events that have influenced the current nursing practice. The development of the Germ
Theory of Disease in the 19th century is one of the foundations; pioneered by Louis Pasteur and
Robert Koch (Scott et al., 2020). The findings revolutionized healthcare by providing the
foundation that microorganisms cause infections. These results informed the invention of
sterilization techniques, hand washing and infection control measures. In case of graduate-level
nurses, this emphasizes the significance of evidence-based infection prevention approaches in
clinical practice.
The other important incident was the epidemic of HIV/AIDS worldwide (from June
1981) as it demonstrated the necessity of strict infection control measures like universal
precautions. This event has changed the nursing practice as it brought the importance of
