ABSTRACT
Nursing educator Bertha Harmer ended her 1926 edition of Methods and Principles of Teaching the Principles and Practice of Nursing by instructing the reader that the written language was indispensable to the progress of society and likewise to the “progress of the nursing profession” (p. 135). By writing down thoughts, ideas, plans, aims, or results gained from work experience, Harmer explained, nurses could study the meaning of what was done, what was felt at the time it was done, and consider what could be changed in the future. Harmer (1926) wrote that:
[W]ritten facts can be tested and verified; they may be classified and analyzed; comparisons may be made and new relationships and principles revealed. Records serve as a future reference and guide and by systematic review and checking up, they enable us to evaluate the soundness of our methods and the progress made in both content or knowledge and in methods of work.
