History of nursing

Nursing in ancient times seems to have developed from wet nursing. Nursing was a job for women, and it still is dominated by women in the 21st century. More than 85% of American nurses are women. Nursing was seen as part of Christianity. Medieval hospitals in Europe were religious communities, with care provided by monks and nuns.

The Crimean War was important in nursing history. The English nurse Florence Nightingale started professional nursing with the her book Notes on Nursing. She understood how important hygiene was. Money was collected to support her - £44,039 (worth more than £2 million today). She used it to start the first nurses training school at St Thomas' Hospital. The first nurses trained there used to be called 'Nightingales'.

Nurses were often expected to live in nurses homes. If they married they lost their job.

Nurses in psychiatric hospitals were mostly men, because the hospitals had mostly developed from prisons.

History Of Nursing Media

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  "After the Battle of Gravelotte. The French Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo arriving on the battle field to succor the wounded." Unsigned lithograph, 1870 or 1871.

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  Florence Nightingale, an 'angel of mercy', set up her nursing school in 1860

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  Nursing sisters at a Canadian military hospital in France voting in the Canadian federal election, 1917

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  Portrait of Lillian Wald, pioneer of public health nursing, by William Valentine Schevill, National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

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  Saint Marianne Cope was among many Catholic nuns to influence the development of modern hospitals and nursing.

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  World War II Recruiting poster for the United States Army Nurse Corps (founded 1901)

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  Sister Grace Wilson of the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos. She sailed from Sydney, New South Wales on board RMS Mooltan on 15 May 1915.