Nursing History
Nursing Concepts
Why history?
• "Connecting the
past with the
present allows us
to catch a glimpse
of the future."
17th century
• Before modern
nursing
– Nuns / monks
– Prostitutes
– Criminals
Florence Nightingale
(1820 – 1910)
• Founder of Modern Nursing
• "The Lady with the Lamp",
• Crimean War
– book Notes on Nursing
• 1860 est school of nursing
Theodore Fliedner
(1800-1864)
• 1853 - Set up 1st
hospital with
nurses
• Led to “British
Institute of
Nursing Sisters”
James Derham
1757-1802
• 1st African-American to formally practice
medicine in the U.S.
• Born into slavery
• Owned by several doctors - worked as a nurse
• Purchased his freedom 1783 
• Opened a medical practice
Mary Jane Seacole
(1805 – 1881)
• Crimean War
• succeeded despite racial
prejudice
• autobiography,
Wonderful Adventures of
Mrs. Seacole in Many
Lands (1857)
Clara Barton
(1821 – 1912)
• Civil War Nurse
• Organized the
American Red
Cross
• 1881
DOROTHEA DIX
1802 - 1887
• Am. activist for mentally ill
• created 1st Am. mental
asylums
• Civil War: Superintendent
of Army Nurses
Louisa May Alcott
(1832 – 1888)
• Civil War Nurse
• Author
–Little Women
Linda Richards
(1842 – 1930)
• 1st professionally trained
American nurse
• Est. nursing schools
– USA & Japan
• Created 1st individual
medical records system
Mary Eliza Mahoney
(1845 – 1926)
• 1st African American
nurse graduate - 1879
• Co-founded: National
Association of Colored
Graduate Nurses
(1908)
Ellen Dougherty
(1844 – 1919)
• first Registered Nurse in
the world
• 1st country to establish
a nursing registry
– New Zealand
– 1901
Unite States Nursing Registry
• 1st State to pass
nursing licensure law
• North Carolina
– 1903
• All US states
– 1923
The Nightingale
• 1886 - The Nightingale,
the first American
nursing journal, is
published.
The Nightingale Pledge
• Composer
–Lystra Gretter
• 1st used by the 1893 graduating
class
–Michigan
The Nightingale Pledge
• I solemnly pledge myself before God and
in the presence of this assembly, to pass
my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully.
The Nightingale Pledge
• I solemnly pledge myself before God and
in the presence of this assembly, to pass
my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully.
serious
The Nightingale Pledge
• I solemnly pledge myself before God and
in the presence of this assembly, to pass
my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully.
Binding
Promise
The Nightingale Pledge
• I solemnly pledge myself before God and
in the presence of this assembly, to pass
my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully.
Free from
guilt
The Nightingale Pledge
• I solemnly pledge myself before God and
in the presence of this assembly, to pass
my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully.
Devoted,
trustworthy
• I will abstain from whatever is
deleterious and mischievous, and
will not take or knowingly administer
any harmful drug.
Having a harmful
effect; injurious
• I will abstain from whatever is
deleterious and mischievous, and
will not take or knowingly administer
any harmful drug.
Troublesome; irritating:
Causing harm, injury, or
damage
• I will do all in my power to maintain
and elevate the standard of my
profession, and will hold in
confidence all personal matters
committed to my keeping and all
family affairs coming to my
knowledge in the practice of my
calling.
• I will do all in my power to maintain
and elevate the standard of my
profession, and will hold in
confidence all personal matters
committed to my keeping and all
family affairs coming to my
knowledge in the practice of my
calling.
Trust that privacy
maintained
• With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the
physician, in his work, and devote
myself to the welfare of those
committed to my care.
• With loyalty will I endeavor to aid
the physician, in his work, and
devote myself to the welfare of those
committed to my care.
Allegiance,
devoted, steady
America Nurses Association
st
•1
meeting
–1897
Nursing Today (RN)
• Median pay
–$66,640 / yr
–$32.04 / hr
Nursing Today (RN)
• # Jobs
–2, 751,000
• Growth rate
–16%