Revisiting and Rethinking the Rewriting of Nursing History

Expanding Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Through Nursing Education

“…Nurses with LPN/LVN preparation have not historically been documented as a large component of the SRH workforce, although in the future, their full integration into clinical training programs should be encouraged. Diploma nursing was historically described as hospital nursing because it was based on an apprenticeship model in which students lived and worked within the hospitals in which they were trained (D'Antonio, 1999;Scheckel, 2009). Associate's degree nursing (ADN) programs were developed in 1949 as a response to the nursing shortage exacerbated by World War II (Scheckel, 2009).…”

History of Nursing at Baylor University Medical Center

“…They viewed nursing as their patriotic contribution to the war effort, and soon white women of other classes followed suit. These events in the South reflect the significant change that occurred in many regions as women took over the more heroic aspects of nursing from men (8).…”

“…On November 4, 1854, Miss Nightingale and a party of 38 nurses-10 Roman Catholic sisters, 8 Anglican sisters, 6 St. John's House nurses, and 14 nurses from various hospitals-began development of professional nursing services for the British Army during the Crimean War. Within 6 months, in spite of military resistance, Miss Nightingale had transformed the hospital at Scutari, across the Bosphorus from Istanbul, reducing the death rate from >40% to 2%.…”

“…It also offered them the opportunity to pursue more traditional feminine roles of wife and mother, with the option of returning to the workforce at any time. As D'Antonio put it, "The nursing diploma meant even more: it also meant the possibility of constructing lives with meaningful, easily accomplished, and socially sanctioned connections between personal responsibilities and professional commitments, and between private interests and public concerns" (8).…”

“…It also offered them a way to transform health care in the USA. These nurses wielded a great deal of power (8).…”