The Only Woman -- A Nurse

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

I've seen this "lone nurse in an all male teaching hospital operating room" photo years ago.... will be ordering this book.

Women Who Shaped History:  A Smithsonian magazine special report

These Trailblazers Were the Only Women in the Room Where It Happened

Author -Immy Humes:  The Only Woman

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A new book spotlights 100 historical photographs of lone women hidden among groups of men

 

Unknown nurse in Boston, Massachusetts, 1890

 

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We know where this photo was taken: Boston City Hospital, one of thousands of public hospitals founded in the wake of the Civil War. Operating theaters were popular teaching spaces that offered real drama while fluffing the fame and prestige of star surgeons. We know the identity of the photographer and the stars in this play: the surgeon Herbert L. Burrell of Harvard Medical School stands to the right, and a Dr. Cheever operates on the leg of this unfortunate patient. But the nurse’s identity is unknown, probably forever lost.

At the time this photograph was taken, nurses were struggling to establish decent professional standards; many were treated as servants by hospitals that expected them to work around the clock, devoting themselves body and soul for no or little pay....