Evolution of Nursing Curriculum Essay

Institute of Protestant Deaconesses – Florence Nightingale trained to be a nurse. Two years later she was appointed resident lady superintendent of a hospital for invalid women in Harley Street, London. * 1860 – By the help of wealthy friends, Nightingale used the money to fund the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas Hospital. * Ursuline Sisters of Quebec first attempt to train nurses in America who taught the Indian women to care for their sick. * Dr. Valentine Seaman introduced the first regular school for nurses. * The educational endeavour of Florence Nightingale and the Civil War had focused attention in the necessity for the nurses and importance of an educational system. * 1869 – Nursing education was placed under the control of medical profession. They proposed a school for training nurses in every large hospital. * In both England and America, the need for trained nurses was so great that schools of nursing relatively grew. * Adelaide Nutting – had been a catalytic agent in the separation of schools of nursing from hospital control. * Dr. Washburn and Burlingham – advocated raising the whole standard of nursing profession in the requirements of admission and stressed the cultural values. * 1894 – Nursing leaders stressed the importance of planning the entire educational program for the student rather than for the convenience of hospital services. * 1895 – Miss Mary Agnes Snively of Toronto presented a paper that emphasized the need for uniformity of education for nursing through a uniform matriculation examination for admission, a uniform length of program nursing through a uniform length of program of nursing education. * Miss Nutting presented an electrifying report at the 1896 convention which revealed that work hours per day could total 15hrs with 105hrs weekly; one lecture per week is given. * Miss Lucy Walker, who was a Superintendent of Nurses, gave a progress report on the acceptance of lengthening the program with shortening of the workday. * The first preliminary courses varied from a few classes to a planned program of six months. It included biological and social sciences and practical work in a mannequin called Mrs. Chase. * 1908 – The board had outlined specific requirements for schools of nursing. They were required to prove two years of study in medical nursing, surgical nursing (including gynecology), obstetrical nursing, pediatrics, nutrition and cookery, drugs and solution, dietetics, instruction in contagious nursing, ethics, emergencies, mental nursing, personal hygiene, and provide clinical experience in a hospital setting. * Schools that wished to continue this practice were required to extend their course of training to three years. Training schools had to be connected to a hospital or Sanitarium having no fewer than 25 beds, with the number of beds two to four times greater than the number of students. * 1909 – Plan for a university school of nursing was presented. * A change in title from pupil nurse to student of nursing. * Central Schools – had been successful in Europe; students received class instruction at one place at a university * 1915 – Only 10 schools had fulltime instructors. Superintendent of nurses did the most teaching and doctors taught anatomy. * 1923 – Yale University of Nursing and Western Reserve University of Nursing were established. * Public health was incorporated into the curriculum. * The degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing was given to graduates from 1926 – 1936, the degree of Masters in Nursing was awarded until it closed in 1958. * 1925 – A committee sponsored by American Nurses’ Association undertook a five-year study of nursing and nurse training. * 1949 – The state board pool for nurses provided examination for practical nurses. * The first examination for Registered Nurses was given in 1904, with a battery of test questions designed to be a ‘severe’ test of practical and theoretical knowledge. * The Board minutes that the test involved the ‘care of febrile cases, of patients before and after operation, of the mother and new-born baby in normal and abnormal obstetrical cases, of treatment of emergencies, and knowledge of drugs with regard to toxicological symptoms, and treatment after poisonous doses. Male nurses will be examined on genitor-urinary work as a substitute for obstetrical cases’. * Today, the State Board for Nursing has 23 members, consisting of 17 RNs, two LPNs, and four public members. The Board functions as an advisory group to the Board of Regents. Its stated mission is ‘to protect the public by fostering high standards of professional licensure, practice and discipline.