by Lily Grigg

Created on: July 03, 2007

The history of the nursing profession is steeped not only in historical events, but in cultural and societal beliefs that influenced its history throughout the world. Some of the first descriptions of assistants tending to the health needs of others occurs as early as the first century AD when Pliny the younger (63-113) as well as the Greek physician Soranus (98-138), both wrote of the use of midwives in childbirth. Traditionally, it was the woman who prepared herbal remedies and treated illnesses even though they were viewed as second-class citizens.

The treatment of the sick by a female member of the family was due to the fact that prior to the 1800's, there were no hospitals and most families could not afford their own doctors. Physicians began speaking out in support of creating institutions to aid, not just the wealthy who could afford their own private doctors, but families who relied on archaic remedies for healing. Doctors, making up a small group of educated medical researchers and practitioners during the Victorian era, recognized these unscientific methods of treating the sick and began to call for trainable assistants other than medical apprentices.

In the 1820's, unlike England, France experienced great freedoms to conduct scientific research and initiate medical practices unhampered by the influences of the Catholic Church. After the French Revolution, the French medical community realized that they could tend to the masses without the Church or political intervention and thus, created the first hospitals. A decade later, Florence Nightingale, a young English woman hailing from a fairly prominent, educated family, began to show an interest in medicine and the treatment of illnesses. During this time, more women began to expand their roles outside of the household and to cultivate awareness of poverty and the deplorable living conditions in the industrialized society as well as health care issues.

The women's movement began to grow in numbers so it was not uncommon for women to go outside the confines of the family to visit the sick and lend their assistance. As Nightingale's interest in alleviating the poor conditions of the sick and lower class increased, so did her travels to different hospitals and communities. She saw how English women were treating the sick through unscientific traditions, and compared them with a group of nuns running a convent in Alexandria, Egypt who were better organized and saw their role of assisting the ill as a higher

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