Christine E Hallett (2009) Containing Trauma: Nursing Work in the First World War.
Manchester: Manchester University Press
Reviewer: Jane Brooks: University of Manchester.
In Containing Trauma, Christine Hallett moves us away from the
professionalising and heroic cannon of war-time nursing history and into nursing
work in the theatre of war. That is not to maintain that Hallett does not see much of
what these women did as heroic, but that any heroism has to be juxtaposed with hard
work, dismal surroundings and limited resources. In the introduction, Hallett
maintains that the purpose of the book is to, ‘uncover the hidden work of nursing
work’. Her use of nursing rather than nurses’ makes manifest the work performed by
many who were not professional nurses, but also orderlies, Voluntary Aid
Detachment (VAD) nurses and a myriad of other individuals who helped nurses
during the War. However, what is fundamental to this text is that Hallett places the
voices of professional nurses at the forefront of the testimony, rather than the more
prolific words of the VADs.
In chapter two the reader is introduced to the physical work of the nurse in
caring for the physical injury of the soldier. Nurses worked in the casualty clearing
stations and field hospitals very close to the front, where they worked to contain the
injured body, so it could be sent on to the operating theatre. The descriptions offered
in the testimonies by various nurses as to the treatment of shock, illustrates the
paucity of medical knowledge and technologies. Nevertheless, it seems that often the
‘hunch’ was correct and the men survived. Chapter three continues with the theme of
physical containment, but moves away from the emergency care to that of the
maintenance of life and convalescence. One of Hallett’s key voices comes from
Violetta Thurstan, a trained nurse, who identified the importance of the performance
of such menial tasks as providing bed-pans and how it should be done with kindness
and dignity. Indeed the chapter demonstrates that for patients themselves, the
importance of essential nursing tasks does not alter;` nutrition, sleep, comfort and
hygiene. In chapter four Hallett moves the reader to the distant theatre of war,
including Greece, Palestine and Egypt. In this chapter the reader is embroiled in the
reality of disease, as well as injury; typhoid, malaria and amoebic dysentery, for
which few nurses and fewer volunteers were prepared. Chapter five returns the reader
to Europe and the emotional strain of warfare. In this sad chapter one is left with the
realisation of the limits of psychiatric knowledge of the medical staff and the virtually
non-existent mental health training of the nurses. Nevertheless, Hallett clearly
demonstrates that nurses were willing to expand their knowledge and understanding
of these problems in order to manage their mentally exhausted patients. The final
chapter considers how the nurses took care of themselves in order to care for their
patients. This chapter is key is revising the sometimes derisory picture left by VADs;
that the nurses were hard and unfeeling. In fact Hallett demonstrates that they were
kindly and always interested in the welfare of their patients, but were required to
maintain a distance in order to do the physical and emotional work of nursing.
In Containing Trauma, Hallett offers a critical and exceedingly well
researched monograph on the history of World War I nursing. Perhaps sometimes the
vast quantities of primary material are too stark and emotionally draining even to
read. Hallett is to be commended on an excellent text which will be of value to
academics, clinicians and students and of importance to those members of the public
who are brave enough to tackle such poignant work.