By Cindy Glewwe, MEd, RHIA, Health Science Curriculum Manager, Rasmussen College
In the early evolution of higher education, women were not allowed access to colleges and universities. It was the common concept of the time that women did not have any need to be educated. Because of these early beliefs, it is quite interesting and refreshing to read of the women who made a mark in the world of higher education despite the obstacles that they had to overcome in order to be a part of this history. One of the most notable women of the time was Florence Nightingale, who developed nursing as a profession and started the first school of nursing in
London in 1892. Her contributions to the higher education of nurses and other areas of healthcare reform garnered her many recognitions and awards and her name is still known today.
Nightingale made substantial contributions to the medical profession by developing training curriculum for nurses and opening Nightingale School Home for Nurses at
Saint Thomas’s Hospital in
London (www.mrs.umn.edu). This was the beginning of professional training for nursing and the beginning of nursing as a profession. Her curriculum was copied all over the world. Nightingale created many reforms in healthcare throughout her life and has a remarkable life history. National Nurses Week is celebrated in May each year in honor of Florence Nightingale during her birthday week.
Nightingale took nursing training very seriously and held her students to high standards. As cited by the author of the Spartacus website (unnamed),
Florence wrote in Advice to Nursing Students (1873), “Nursing is most truly said to be a high calling, an honourable calling. But what does the honour lie in? In working hard during your training to learn and to do all things perfectly. The honour does not lie in putting on Nursing like your uniform. Honour lies in loving perfection, consistency, and in working hard for it: in being ready to work patiently: ready to say not "How clever I am!" but "I am not yet worthy; and I will live to deserve to be called a Trained Nurse. (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REnightingale.htm)
In the early days of the Nightingale school, student life was described as such:
The normal time the students spent in training was one year. The students lived in private rooms with a common social room in a special area of the Hospital. They attended classes and the sick at
St. Thomas . There might be 20-30 students in a yearly class. There were two kinds of probationers. A Lady, an upper class woman with some education could purchase the opportunity to attend the school; a common class woman could serve as student and receive expenses plus a small amount of money upon completion and placement in an institution or home. They all wore a uniform and were under charge of a Matron and an assistant.
Nightingale had students upon graduation visit her in her South Street apartment. This was a very cherished moment for few people met her face to face after the Crimean War. And always the student would leave with a gift of food or clothing or something FN felt she needed. FN kept extensive notes on all the students including "character." In fact it was the issue of character that caused her to oppose "certification" of nurses anda "registrar". (http://www.countryjoe.com/nightingale/school.htm).
Graduates of the school were for some time called ‘Nightingales’. It is interesting to note that this is occasionally still heard in the hospitals of today. For instance, a volunteer, or ‘candy striper’ who might assist with patient services may be affectionately called a Nightingale.
References:
Florence Nightingale. Retrieved November 4, 2006 from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REnightingale.htm
Florence Nightengale. Retrieved October 20, 2006 from http://www.mrs.umn.edu/~sungurea/introstat/history/w98/Nightengale.html
Florence Nightingale, a school for nurses. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from
http://www.countryjoe.com/nightingale/school.htm