RN-AIM: 2012 Annual Conference

Joy Washburn, EdD, RN

THE NURSE AS ADVOCATE THROUGHOUT HISTORY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Attendees at this presentation will be able to:

• Explain why knowledge of the history of nursing is important to the profession of nursing

• Identify a minimum of three lesser-known RNs and their contributions to nursing

• Discuss how RNs have served and continue to serve in an advocacy role

WHY STUDY THE HISTORY OF NURSING?

• Knowledge of the history of a profession is the basis for a deeper understanding of the identity of a profession and thus its possibilities. It is, therefore, important for nurses to know their history. It reaches all the way into their daily work.

~ Kirsten Stallknecht (President of the Danish Nurses Association from 1968 to 1996)

WELL KNOWN NURSES IN HISTORY

Florence Nightingale Lillian Wald

• Born in 1861 on a reservation near Green Bay, WI

• First Native American to be educated as a nurse

• Graduated in October 1890 – Hartford School for Nurses

• Worked at Oneida Mission Hospital (1899-1904)

NANCY CORNELIUS SKENANDORE

• Born in Stratford, Ontario

• Nursing education at Provident Hospital in Chicago

• Hired in 1902 by the Charity Organization Society (NYC)

• First Public Health Nurse of African-American descent

JESSIE SLEET SCALES

• Worked in rural areas in the Appalachian Mountains

• Traveled via horseback to serve the health needs of the poverty-stricken mountain people

• Delivered babies, provided prenatal and postnatal care, educated mom and families about nutrition and hygiene, cared for the sick

• Demonstrated that nurses can provide primary care

MARY BRECKINRIDGE

D-DAY AFRICA: OPERATION TORCH

NOVEMBER 1942

• 108 nurses landed with the initial assault forces

• 48th Surgical Hospital

ELSIE PERCH• Served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WW II

Often ignored by history classes is the story of the female prisoners of war taken captive during World War II.

• Austrian Nurse

• Worked in the Resistance during World War II

• Assignment: Auschwitz

• Risked her life repeatedly to care for prisoners

• Testified in war crimes trial

MARIA STROMBERGER

June 1944: D-Day (Operation Overlord)Nurses of the 13th Field Hospital (First US Army),

Omaha Beach, France.

2ND LIEUTENANT RUTH HADDICK, RN • Post-op nurse: 51st Field Hospital

• Arrived on Omaha Beach six days after D-Day

• Native of Freeland, Michigan

• Graduate of Saginaw General Hospital School of Nursing

• Flight Nurse – WW II

• Air Combat & Medical Evacuation Flights

• Died on November 1, 1944

• Honors

FIRST LIEUTENANT ALEDA LUTZ

• Graduate of Boston City Hospital School of Nursing in 1923

• Activist for better health care for Native Americans

• Appointed to the Council on Indian Health, Education and Welfare and to the Federal Indian Health Advisory Committee.

SUSIE WALKING BEAR YELLOWTAIL

• First African-American to attend the University of Maryland School of Nursing

• Admitted in 1950 after a legal battle

• Faced discrimination in during her nursing studies

ESTHER MCCREADY

Not everyone in the 1960s wore love beads

• Served in the Army Nurse Corps during WWII

• Invented the first crash cart• Established formal meetings

with ER nurses in Buffalo, NY• Co-founder of the Emergency

Nurses Association (with Judith Kelleher)

ANITA DORR

• Believed nurses capable of providing advanced levels of care in community settings

• Co-Founder of the Nurse Practitioner Movement in 1965

• Founding Dean of the University of Rochester School of Nursing

LORETTA FORD

• Experienced gender discrimination

• Regularly challenged the status quo

• President of MNA

• Dean of Nursing

• 1st male inducted into the ANA Hall of Fame

LUTHER CHRISTMAN

BRIGADIER GENERAL CLARA ADAMS-ENDER (RETIRED)

• BSN, MSN

• Masters in Military Art & Science

• Chief of Nursing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

• Commander of the Army Nurse Corps

• Commander of Fort Belvoir in Virginia

• Born in Haiti

• Worked for 30 years as an RN in Miami, FL

• Dean of the 1st BSN program in Haiti

• Provided health care leadership in the aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake

HILDA ALCINDOR

LIEUTENANT GENERAL PATRICIA HOROHO (ACTIVE DUTY)

• BSN, MSN

• Master of Science in National Resource Strategy

• Multiple Commands

• Commanding General of the United States Army Medical Command

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

• How does nursing history affect contemporary nursing practice?• How could nursing history affect

the future practice of nursing?

TAKE HOME ACTIVITY (HOMEWORK)

• How could nursing history be integrated or applied in the practice of nursing by professional nurses in these categories?

• Nurse Educators

• Nurse Administrators/Nurse Managers

• Staff Nurses

• Community Health Nurses