The Social Perception Of Nursing Essay

The social perception of nursing has varied throughout the centuries. With the development of research around mental health, so has the need for the development of nurses provided for those with mental health illnesses. This essay will include the history that led to the first mental health institution and the first nurses, what influences social perception of nurses such as media, The clothier report on Beverley Allitt who despite being a general nurse, how her own mental health changed the perception of mental health nurses through association, the NMC code nurses follow to help promote a good perception and how people can socially change the problem of stigma with mental health by talking and campaigning about it.

In 1247 Bethlem hospital was founded. By 1403, there was an increase in admittance of patients with mental health illnesses and from this, it became England’s first mental health institution (Historic England, 2016). John Strype, a historian and antiquary, frequently visited and wrote about Bethlem hospital during the 17th century. He wrote about three monks who worked there who were the predecessors to today’s mental health nurses. From his visits’ he reported suitable conditions for patients with only one in every three not being discharged after two months of care from the monks (Nolan, 1998). However, the committee books for Bethlem Hospital recorded numerous cases of negligence between 1760 through to 1770 (Nolan, 1998). Due to Bethlem becoming a mental…