Nursing History Questions...

[Jocie]

Well I have been a nurse for 3 years and now i'm going back to get my BSN. In one of my BSN classes I have to write a historical paper on an event or person in nursing history that has influenced the nursing field.

Does anyone have any good ideas... i don't really want to do it on anything obvious like Florence Nightengale. Any good ideas let me know..

Thanks

Jocie

[JBudd, MSN]

I posted about McCauley, on another thread about why nurses are called "sister", I think this lady is really an interesting person. She founded "careful nursing", predating or about the same time as Florence Nightengale. The entire article is a great snapshot of early "professionals".

This paragraph is from an article about Catherine McAuley, who started nursing publicly in 1798, written about in

"Careful nursing: a model for contemporary nursing practice" by Therese Connell Meehan BSN MA PhD RGN, (JAN 2002,44(1)), :

sheds a lot of light on it. The entire article is really interesting.

"These emerging nurses considered themselves a secular

group in the common 19th century meaning of the term.

That is, although they were faithful Catholics and Protestants,

they were concerned with the world and its affairs.

However, the plain, dark costume they adopted and their

merciful work gave them a religious appearance. This

impression together with existing social and political conditions

led to a directive that they either form a religious

order or give up their Institute. At first McAuley was firmly

opposed to the idea of a religious order but as their work

grew and its importance became more evident, she agreed to

it (Moore 1841/1995, Harnett 1864). In 1831 they became

the Religious Sisters of Mercy, and over time became major

providers of nursing services in Ireland and around the

world."

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

have worked with sisters of mercy for over 20 yrs of my career as very active in philly area.

see: http://www.sistersofmercy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&itemid=164

lots of nurse leaders noted here to choose from:

ana nursing historical influence and timeline http://nursingworld.org/hof/

voices from the past...visions of the future

ana hall of fame

brownson's nursing notes has great [color=#333333]nursing history links to explore for ideas!

since it's halloween soon, a trip through american association for the history of nursing gravesites a must!

history of nursing resources on the internet - tompkins-mccaw library nursing history topics. african-american nurses: black nurses in ... the history of african-americans in white - pioneer african american women nurses ...

ton's of ideas in these links!