Nursing history pride

[thn5625]

I came across this in a chemistry textbook I was studying about the connection between postpregnancy deaths and hygeine. Decades ago, a prominent person (forgot his name) noticed that doctors and residents would go straight to the delivery room without washing their hands to delivery a baby. Oftentimes the would go straight from dissention to the delivery room. He also noticed that nurse midwives who were in charge of deliveries had a lower rate of postpregnancy death observing that they made sure to wash their hands and stay clean. Obviously nurses were more advanced in this area. Story goes on that the person decides to implement a policy where doctors were required to wash hands, before delivering and of course death rates dropped. However, even with that result the residents and doctors complained and he was booted from the hospital and the policy was abondoned. How funny is that? Reminds me of the grumbling in hospitals today. So it stands..it was nurses who pioneered this practice and it took some time for the med community to catch up. Doesnt this make you proud when you feel nurses dont get enough recognition?