help with exemplary nurse paper topic

[kat29]

I'm a last semester student (finally!) who needs a little help choosing a paper topic please! Its just a short paper about a nurse that we feel would be "exemplary." It cannot be someone we've worked with but must be a nurse of any level who has been recognized internationally, nationally (any nation) or at the state level. We can use any of the historically famous one's that you learn about in your very first nursing class but everyone uses them and Id like to be a little more original.

My personal thoughts are that patient advocacy, standing up for the patient the cannot do so for himself, is a prime example of how an exemplary nurse would act. So, does anyone know of a special nurse who was recognized for advocacy, either in the work setting or in some other type of human rights? Maybe something within the last 20 years or so? Any other ideas?

**the outcome of the situation does not necessarily have to be positive. For example if the nurse were fired or harassed for her role, or even, god forbid, executed for it, that nurse would still be a hero to her patients (or his) patients and a great topic for my paper.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

People often forget that Mother Theresa was a nurse. I always found her extremely interesting.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

nursing theorists are not the only exemplary nurses in the world. it would seem to me that nurses who author books that affect the nursing practice of thousands of nurses today are pretty exemplary. look at the names of some of the authors and contributing authors on some of the nursing textbooks and nursing supplemental books. if i were doing this paper, i'd get the scoop one of the authors of the nursing textbook your nursing program primarily uses in your nursing program. these authors have often been recognized for exemplary work they have been doing in their field of nursing by their peers. just who the heck are/were potter and perry? brunner and suddarth? (brunner's, by the way, was around when i was in nursing school back in 1973.) what, i wonder, got norma m. metheny interested enough in fluid and electrolytes to write one of the most widely read and published nursing books about it (fluid & electrolyte balance: nursing considerations)? wouldn't you like the know the story behind them? because i work with care plans a lot i'm very curious about lynda juall carpenito who has written i don't know how many books on nursing care plans, betty j. ackley and gail b. ladwig who wrote one of the best selling nursing diagnosis books on the market today (nursing diagnosis handbook: a guide to planning care), and sue moorhead who has a phd and is a professor at the university of utah involved in the research of the noc (nursing outcomes classification) project that has merged with nanda and the nursing diagnoses. what do you suppose it would be like to have one of these people as an instructor!? also, my nursing school had a professor emeritus in the nursing department. my class happened to be the last class that actually had the fortune to be lectured by her before she retired. she was a hoot--very unique individual. she was made an emeritus because of the tireless efforts she put forth to get our nursing program up and running and because of her impressive background as a leader in nursing. does your nursing school have a professor emeritus of nursing? what about one of the nursing programs at one of the large universities in your state? most of the top 10 nursing schools in the country boast about their nursing professors and the research they are engaged in as it is a selling point to draw students into their programs (check out the university of utah's nursing school web site where they boast about the specific members of their nursing faculty).

i would think you can find information about these people by writing to the publishers of their books, writing to the colleges and universities where they teach, accessing brochures that gave short biographies about them where they were speakers at public meetings, doing a search on the internet about them, or just writing to them when you find out where they are and telling them about your paper and asking for information. and, if, by some chance, you get the opportunity to speak with one of these people for a few minutes on the phone or to write a letter to them, i'd ask questions that every student going into nursing asks, "why did you become a nurse?", "how did you get to where you are today?" and "what advice would you give to new nurses going into the field today?" i think there's a real potential for you to carve out an "a" for yourself from this assignment.

[S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN]

What about someone who works for the United Nations, World Health Organization, Doctors without Borders/Medicins Sans Frontieres, or something like that.

I didn't actually do a search for one, but I'm sure theres some awesome nurse in one of those organizations who has helped to make the world a better place through policy changes, diplomacy, development or the like.