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 calling. She began to formulate ideas for women to become important members of society in a professional role as nurses as opposed to Victorian society's view of women being relegated to tend to the sick with home-made remedies.
As women began to focus their attention on feminist as well as a Christian causes, and Nightingale becoming more interested in health care issues, it was perhaps serendipitous that the Crimean War started. With the wounded and the death toll climbing and requests coming in from the front lines asking the women of England do what they could to assist, Nightingale gathered a group of volunteers and traveled to Turkey where they began to treat the wounded.
At the same time, Mary Seacole, a British woman of mixed British and Jamaican heritage was already working as a nurse, treating the ill in her boarding houses in Panama and Crimea when the war broke out. She applied to join Nightingale's volunteers but was turned down, and though she continued alone and tended to the sick as an assistant during the war, she never received the attention as an early pioneer in nursing history that Nightingale did, perhaps due to the Victorian views on mixed races.
Nightingale proved her toughness throughout the war, putting in long hours with her hands-on treatment. As she became more involved, she became the only woman allowed to stay in the sick areas until 8:00 p.m. thus, giving the visual that is now almost a mythological symbol; that of her holding a lamp. After her return from the war, Nightingale began in earnest to build up the reputation of the nurse as a true professional who, through certified training, could hold a respectable position in working society. By the 1860's and 1870's, she was followed by other women in the United States including Linda Richards, who became the first certified nurse to graduate from the New England Hospital for Women and Children Training School for Nurses.
The 1880's brought more women into the medical field as Clara Barton established the American Red Cross in 1881, the Japanese began a training institute under the influence of Linda Richards, and Spelman Seminary became the first place to offer nursing degrees to African Americans. By the 1900's, several women were instrumental in pushing through legislation that recognized nurses through their credentials. The Nursing Act of 1919, which was created in the U.K. and became law in 1923, saw its first registered nurse in Ethel Fenwick.
From the 1930's to the present, the nursing profession took on more prestigious roles, with institutions adding nursing to their programs and offering degrees from the undergraduate to the PhD level. National associations were created throughout the world for providing more education and higher standards within the nursing industry. Currently, nurses are some of the most sought-after employees, particularly in the United States and with a shortage of these highly skilled professional, more men are now entering the field which was once viewed as something that women were expected to do as service to their families.
An Introduction to the Social History of Nursing, R Dingwall, AM Rafferty, C Webster. 1988. books.google.com
www.wikipedia.org
The Victorian Web: Literature, History & Culture in the Age of Victoria " Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), Marjory Bloy. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/florrie.h tml