Brief History of Inclusion of Content on Culture in Nursing Education

Nursing has a long history of focusing on the cultural dimension of care, dating back to Florence Nightingale and the early days of public health nursing. Nursing education studies advocated for including social science concepts in nursing curricula well before the founding of the first university school of nursing in the United States in 1910. A brief review of the highlights of major nursing curriculum, licensing, funding, accreditation studies, and initiatives reveals that culture competence in nursing education continues to receive increasing emphasis and support.

A context analysis of student training records dating from the 1950/1960s: what were desirable and undesirable student nurse characteristics?

AIM

The aim of this study is to identify what were desirable and undesirable student nurse characteristics in the 1950/1960s and relate them to those who had successfully completed the programme and gained State Registration and those who had not. A further aim was to undertake comparisons with modern day values of what are viewed as desirable traits in nurses.

BACKGROUND

In the 1950/1960s student nurses were hospital employees. Nurse training was based in hospital training schools and coordinated by sister tutors. Learning about nursing largely took place in clinical settings where there was limited supervision of student nurses by qualified nurses.

DESIGN

Content analysis approaches were used whereby positive and negative comments related to successful and unsuccessful completers were identified.

METHODS

Data were extracted from individual training records relating to 641 student nurses. The records dated from 1955 to 1968. Clinical and training school reports were summarized by senior hospital figures such as the hospital matron. These reports were the focus of the analysis.

FINDINGS

Desirable student nurse traits identified in the analysis were being a 'nice person', who is kind, compassionate and attentive to patients, conscientious, bright and intelligent. Other values such as being hard-working, reliable and punctual reflect that the students studied were primarily employees. Amenable to discipline and unquestioningly obeying a doctor's order also were part of the conventions of the time. Most negative comments related to the unsuccessful completers.

CONCLUSIONS

New insights into what was viewed as desirable and undesirable nursing characteristics in the 1950/1960s are identified. These insights have national and international relevance.

Charting the history of midwifery education

Despite the recent popularity of exploring the history of midwifery practice, there has been minimal attention paid to the history of midwifery education. The purpose of this paper is to display a visual map and timeline of midwifery education from the eighteenth century, when formal midwifery programmes were introduced, to the present day. The paper will be inclusive of the history of midwifery teaching through the use of the High Coombe College archives (Lorentzon et al 2008). Prior to the eighteenth century, processes for learning midwifery were informal and unregulated. Traditional apprenticeships were gradually replaced by formal, regulated educational midwifery programmes, which were assessed. Midwifery teacher training finally became established in the twentieth century.

Celebrating 30 years of nursing at the University of Southampton

This paper describes the evolution of undergraduate nurse education within the University of Southampton. It highlights the continuing responsiveness of the university to the rapidly changing policy initiatives and landscape of healthcare delivery with subsequent workforce needs.

"Nurses' training may be shifted": the story of Bellevue and Hunter College, 1942-1969

During the mid-20th century, nursing leaders advocated moving nursing education out of hospital-based programs and into colleges and universities for the purpose of preparing nurses to meet the demands of increasingly complex health care situations. Nursing leaders in New York City's municipal hospitals recognized the value of this change and sought to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses to fill the many vacancies within city hospitals. This article examines the political support New York gave to the expansion of Hunter College's baccalaureate program in nursing (a college within the City University of New York system) while closing the almost 100-year-old Bellevue and Mills Schools of Nursing diploma program. The efforts to change nursing at Bellevue started in the 1940s, but the transfer to Hunter College was not realized until 1967. Although the decision to close the diploma school met resistance among various stakeholders, the expansion ultimately succeeded. It was supported by the New York City Department of Hospitals and received approval from the Board of Estimates and Board of Higher Education. Both Bellevue and Hunter's leadership was ready to make this change and participated in this transformation.

Intellectual disability nursing in Ireland: identifying its development and future

As a profession, intellectual disability nursing has often come under scrutiny and been called into question. Since its inception as an individual nursing profession in 1959 in Ireland, both education and service provision philosophies have changed over time. These changes have been in response to national and international reports and changing attitudes. The changes have led to the current position where intellectual disability nurse education in Ireland is a four-year undergraduate course. As the discipline of intellectual disability nursing is unique to Ireland and the United Kingdom, there is a responsibility on intellectual disability nurses to identify their unique identity and their responses to the demands of changing services. This article traces the development of intellectual disability nursing in Ireland and identifies implications for the future.

The first undergraduate nursing students: a quantitative historical study of the Edinburgh degrees, 1960-1985

AIMS

The aim of this article is to examine the experiences of the first 25 years of undergraduate nurses at the University of Edinburgh using a quantitative historical methodology.

BACKGROUND

In 1960, the University of Edinburgh, Nursing Studies Unit commenced the first undergraduate degree with nursing in the United Kingdom. By 1967, nursing was a component of the academic award itself.

METHODS

A questionnaire was sent to 225 graduates of nursing at the University of Edinburgh through the alumni office. The questionnaire combined biographical data and a Likert scale.

DATA/RESULTS

Quantitative data can provide the historian with wide-ranging information about large groups of people, in this case undergraduate nurses. Although some of the responses may be more positive than what the participants felt at the time, the material provides useful information as to the experiences of early undergraduate nurses.

CONCLUSION

This article has generated a previously unknown material related to the experiences of the early undergraduate nurses at Edinburgh. For example, the respondents did not feel that the course was too difficult and it appears that the University was accepting nursing as an academic subject. The additional qualitative data provided by the respondents has offered potential for further study.

Networks of identity: the potential of biographical studies for teaching nursing identity

This article reviews the historiographical elements of the professional identity of nursing, focusing on what historians have denoted as the "history of the present." Professional identity interacts with elements of power, gender, politics, philosophy, and history, and its value is tied to the importance it assumes at any given time in any given society. The collective identity of the profession is elucidated by the construction of nursing history, linked to the history of women and gender relationships in professional care and educational, organizational, and class practice, and also by the biographies of individuals who have shaped this identity through their reputations and life stories. In this light, it is argued that biographies could help illuminate the elements of identity formation of interest to nursing scholars and further the development of the profession; they could also bring discussions of the past and present into the teaching-learning process for nursing students. The authority and significance of these identities will also be discussed.

Moving in circles: a brief history of reports and inquiries relating to mental health content in undergraduate nursing curricula

Since the abolition of specialist, undergraduate education in mental health nursing, serious concerns have been raised about the inadequate amount of theory and clinical experience devoted to this specialty in most pre-registration nursing programs in Australia. A number of government initiated reports and inquiries have been undertaken to scope the problem and provide recommendations with the aim of overcoming the identified deficits. Most inquiries have agreed that mental health nursing is under-represented in undergraduate programs and this has serious consequences for establishing a sustainable mental health nursing workforce and for providing optimal care for people experiencing a mental illness. The recommendations tend to support the continuation of comprehensive nursing education, but emphasise the need for increased mental health content. Terms like significant and substantial are often used which are not easily quantifiable. The repetitive nature of the recommendations and findings of the reports suggests that real change is not likely to occur unless specific minimum standards for the mental health content of undergraduate nursing programs are set.

Children's nursing and future directions: learning from 'memorable events'

At present, the UK provides pre-registration education in four distinct branches, including child, but this is under threat with calls for a single generalist register in line with most of the developed world. Debate about this may be understood by placing 'memorable events' associated with this in their historical context. Analysis of quantitative data, obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council identifies a clear correlation between the numbers of registered children's nurses and changes in child health and welfare policies as well as nurse education over the last century. This interpretation of 'memorable events,' showing the growth and influence of this branch of the profession, should enable present day reformers of nurse education to make a rational and informed decision as they debate and decide upon the future of children's (and young people's) nursing in the UK.

How the war's end led to a new world for nursing

Nursing was pivotal to the success of the new NHS. Training and practice were invigorated and working conditions improved.

Public Health Nursing Competencies 1953-1966: Effective and Efficient

The Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations developed public health nursing competencies in 2003. They are guides for determining skills at two levels, and they identify public health nurses as providing care to individuals and families or to populations and systems with the nurse having proficiency, awareness, or knowledge. The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss historical nursing roles and qualifications as judged by the 2003 competencies, including educational preparation and experience for the administrative and staff nurse. The historical exemplar for the nursing roles is a combination public/private nursing association, referred to as the partnership, that took place in 1953-1966. Primary sources include archived material from the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, Richmond, VA. Administrative responsibilities were divided between the chief nurse and the nursing supervisors. Staff nurse responsibilities included clinic activities, home visitation, and referral coordination between health care organizations. The delineation of nursing roles demonstrates nurses' meeting the 2003 competencies. Based on the Quad Council's 2003 public health nursing competencies, the partnership nurses were competent.

Appreciating the importance of history: a brief historical overview of mental health, mental health nursing and education in Australia

History is consistently acknowledged as crucial to the identity of a profession. In the case of mental health nursing this is perhaps more so, as published accounts of the history of nursing rarely pays attention to the specialty of mental health. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the history of mental health nursing in Australia. It is concluded that an understanding of history is essential in understanding and interpreting contemporary mental health service delivery and seeking to overcome the professional distance between mental health and other branches of nursing.

Education, philosophy and academic practice: nursing studies in the posthistorical university

This paper is an amended and abridged version of a seminar given at the NET/NEP 1st Nurse Education International Conference in Vancouver, Canada. The topic of the paper arose from our growing concerns about the state of nurse education and its position in the university at the start of the twenty-first century. We share the fears expressed by Readings that the university has lost its way and is increasingly driven by a business agenda and a quest for ever-greater efficiency. Our biggest concern is with the impact that the so-called 'posthistorical university' is having on the study of nursing, particularly the growing pressure on nurse academics to focus their attention and energy on output at the expense of process, and on research at the expense of practice and practitioner development. We suggest that the solution might lie with Jean-Francois Lyotard's notion of postmodern philosophy as a way of opening up debate and, in his words, saving the honour of thinking.

Cherishing the past: 100 years of nursing education at the American University of Beirut

This article describes the foundation and the development of nursing education at the American University of Beirut, the first professional school in the country and the region, across 100 years (1905-2005). It talks about the early years, pioneering achievements (1905-1940), the school's leadership in nursing from 1940 to 1976, the war years from 1976 to 1993, and postwar global vision (1993-2005). Furthermore, it gives special tribute to the dedication and hard work of the founders, Ms. Jane Elizabeth Van Zandt and Ms. Mary Bliss Dale, and all the directors whose endeavors and wisdom have helped the development of the school from diploma to bachelor and master's programs.

Visiting rights only: the diplomas in nursing in the UK in the interwar period

The aim of this article is to explore the institution and organisation of the diplomas in nursing at the universities of Leeds and London, which were established in 1921 and 1926, respectively. It will be argued that the success of these courses for the individuals who undertook them, and the profession as a whole was ultimately limited. It is accepted that the purpose of the diplomas was at least in part for the nursing elite to maintain their grip on the leadership. Nevertheless, the institution of the courses, when few women in general attended university, identifies a 'radicalness' within the profession, which has rarely been considered. Moreover, that there was a body of nurses capable of university level education challenges previous assumptions.

The 'Manchester scheme': a study of the Diploma in Community Nursing, the first pre-registration nursing programme in a British university

The Diploma in Community Nursing at the University of Manchester began in 1959, after a long period of planning and negotiation. It was the earliest pre-registration nursing education programme in a British university. The paper reports on a historical study which examined its foundation and development. The history of the 'Manchester Scheme', as it came to be known, is placed into the context of wider reforms and modifications in British nursing education. The methods used for the study were a broad-based literature review, examination of material from the 1950s to the present day, five oral history interviews with some of those who were influential in developing the diploma, and the interpretation of relevant documentary source materials. The Diploma in Community Nursing at the University of Manchester was important and innovative in its time, combining as it did nurse and health visitor training with a university-based education. The paper traces the struggle to establish the course, which was largely due to the efforts of one charismatic individual, Fraser Brockington, Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine. It then goes on to examine the reforms and modifications the programme underwent from 1959 to 1969, as it was developed into the prototype for the 'Bachelor of Nursing Degree'.

Educational preparation of black nurses: a historical perspective

To where minority nursing needs to proceed, the minority nursing community must understand where we have been. This historical perspective traces our roots through every level of nursing education. Parallels are drawn between minority nurse educational evolution and the historical events occurring in the greater society in the United States.