ABOUT NVNSA
STUDENT TODAY.
STRONGER TOMORROW.
The Nevada Nursing Student Association (NVNSA) is a community of nursing students committed in leadership, advocacy, professional growth, and a healthier Nevada.
OUR STORY
THE MESSAGE BEHIND THE NAME
CHAPTER 1
Why Nevada Nursing Student Association?
A question was presented during a recent board meeting of the Nevada Nursing Student Association (NVNSA). Why are we called the Nevada Nursing Student Association (NVNSA) when our school chapters refer to themselves as the Student Nurses’ Association (SNA)? The National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) identifies over 100 national and state-level associations composed of nursing students (State Association/School Chapter Links, n.d.). However, only a third of the associations refer to themselves as nursing student associations (NSAs). This question aroused my curiosity as I pinned it on my ever-growing list of research topics. What is the difference between being referred to as a ‘student nurse’ vs. a ‘nursing student’? To answer this question fully requires a deep dive into the history of nursing.
CHAPTER 2
A Look Into
Our History
Traditionally, throughout history, the role of nurses has progressed from being assigned women family members who developed their art through self-establishment and reliance on oral history into consecrated groups of church-going women, called deaconesses, who were tasked to staff existing hospitals (Roux & Halstead, 2017). Therefore, Florence Nightingale, the “founder” of nursing, had a strong background in deaconess training. Deaconess training was inspired by the will to serve God through caring for the sick, poor, and orphaned (Doyle, 1929) and led to advancements in the nursing profession (Hall et al., 2023), which Nightingale combined with previously acquired knowledge to pioneer the first formal nursing school by coupling theory classes with clinical experience (Roux & Halstead, 2017). Thereby, Nightingale provided foundational and scaffolding elements to the nursing profession.