Louisa Mary Alcott wrote her book, “Hospital Sketches”, based on her experiences spent as a volunteer nurse at the Union Hospital in Georgetown during the American Civil War. Her account is considered a primary source that reveals the culture of nursing of the that time period. Nursing had a different definition by the historical American culture compared to today’s idea and principles of nursing. Women from various societal backgrounds were recruited into the nursing workforce to cure and heal the soldiers at war. Most of these nurses lacked proper medical experience and skills and were fairly unprepared for the unmanageable working conditions. Alcott experienced the crowdedness, poorly ventilated and rationed food as she severed as one of the nurses of her time.
Alcott's documentation is considered a primary source because its her own account of the event. Primary sources recall information that was remembered, but these sources must have information that is consistent with the appropriate time. The validation of the journal can be reviewed with the book, “A History of American Nursing” by Deborah Judd and Kathleen Sitzman to verify the consistencies. Secondary sources provide outside perspective on events that enable researchers to verify accuracy.
During the time of the American Civil War, the recruitment for nurses was in high demand. “War time activities provided opportunities for nurses to be intimately involved in the health and humanitarian care of soldiers, civilians and/or the enemy” (Judd, 3).
Most women felt that it was their national responsibility to do what was right for their country. Like most women of her time, Alcott wanted to participate and contribute to the war effort. The qualification to be a nurse w...
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...ho was entirely grateful for her service. “ Burrowing under his pillow, he produced a little bundle of what he called a ‘truck’ and gallantly present me with a pair or earrings, each representing a cluster of corpulent grapes and the pin a basket astonishing fruit, the whole large and coppery enough for a small warming-pan” (Alcott, 27)
During the American Civil War, nursing had a different expectation and viewpoint than it is today. The source of such information depicts what the time period appears to be at first glance. Alcott did not cure the injured men based upon which side they fought for; she wanted to help anyone who needed it. Her elaborate record of her time serving as a nurse during the American Civil War brought new insight of the culture and attitudes toward the medical profession as a nurse. Nurses of today had come from a history of changes and
Furthermore, as war led to an increase in the number of injured men, there was a shortage of nurses, and women swarmed into medical universities to receive their educations so they could serve as nurses. In his “Universities, medical education, and women,” Watts states that when it was observed that women could “join the popular and increasing band of professional nurses. women were striving to gain university admission” (Watts 307).
“There was much more to women’s work during World War Two than make, do, and mend. Women built tanks, worked with rescue teams, and operated behind enemy lines” (Carol Harris). Have you ever thought that women could have such an important role during a war? In 1939 to 1945 for many women, World War II brought not only sacrifices, but also a new style of life including more jobs, opportunities and the development of new skills. They were considered as America’s “secret weapon” by the government. Women allowed getting over every challenge that was imposed by a devastating war. It is necessary to recognize that women during this period brought a legacy that produced major changes in social norms and work in America.
...book. It was very detailed when it came to the wars that the nurses had to volunteer in, because if it wasn't for the nurses, most of the soldiers would have died. Not only did this book cover nurses, it covered the beginning of nursing (Florenece Henderson) until the present day (1996). It explained new techniques and great methods of nursing compared to the past.
Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.
One of these stories told was Miss Esmee Sartorius’, a nurse for the British Red Cross during the First World War. She wrote her memoir about her time from August to approximately October 1914 in order to tell her personal description about how emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically challenging it was to be a nurse amidst the danger of enemy lines. Her story was first published in 1930 in Everyman at War, a compilation of personal narratives of World War I. Throughout her time as a nurse, Esmee traveled to several different countries, taking care of injured soldiers and writing her experiences. Her story began in Brussels, Belgium, along with 39 other nurses who we...
Holder, V. L. (2003). From hand maiden to right hand-- The birth of nursing in America “.ARON journal, 20. Retrieved from Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Apr. 2011
...re opportunities for nurses. Today’s demand for skilled nurses significantly outweighs the supply of such professionals. In an economically challenged background, all nations are actively looking for ways to change healthcare by expanding value in the care delivery systems. For nurses, everyone’s role adds value to the patients, the communities, the countries, and the world. The development and evolution of nursing is associated with the historical influences throughout different ages. The study of the history of nursing helps understand the issues that confronted the profession. It also allows nurses to gain the appreciation they deserve for playing the role of caring for patients during wartime. The role of the profession has played an important part of history. Through the history, each nurse has efficiently established the achievements of the history of nursing.
The article was published on February 6, 1943 in the midst of World War II. Women had become an asset to the war effort and were then considered "At Home Soldiers" or "Riveters". They worked in the factories constructing submarines for the Navy, planes for the Air Force, and became medics.
The images created by propaganda poster had a dramatic effected on convincing many women to choose nursing as a career and dedicate their efforts to serve their country by enlisting in the Red Cross and the United States military. “Over 350,000 American women volunteered to serve in the armed forces during World War II. More than 59,000 of those women were registered nurses, who volunteered to serve in the United States Army Nurse Corps” (Monahan and Greenlee pg.
From Nightingale’s legacy, nurses, under the Hippocratic Oath, were visible agents of care providers for the wounded soldiers and affected civilians during the war. In
Dossey’s (2010) article states that Florence was the “philosophical founder of modern nursing, the first recognized nurse theorist, and her legacy is the holistic nursing movement” (p. 14). Florence was more than just a nurse theorist. She took her life’s work and experiences and laid them out to help teach and mold upcoming students into becoming great nurses. She did this by establishing a model for nurse training schools in England (Dossey, 2010). Once these were used and proven success-ful, they spread throughout the world and the foundation of her work is still used today (Dossey, 2010). She was also a healer of the Crimean War during 1854-1856, by helping care for the sol-diers and providing health care to those in battle (Dossey, 2010). Providing care to those wound-ed in battle is a very heroic job, and Florence did a great blessing to all of those men and women who served in the war and needed her care. Florence was the first woman honored for the Lon-don Statistical Society in 1858, and the Order of the Merit award in 1902 (Dossey, 2010). She was awarded many other awards for her accomplishments and hard work, including a museum in her honor. The Florence Nightingale Museum was built in 1982 to protect all of Florence’s let-ters, awards, and contributions that she has made to the nursing profession (Florence, 2012). The museum was intended to make Florence’s work and spirit feel real, and
During the Civil War they really worked towards building more hospitals and it drove the nursing profession to grow and have a large demand for nurses, but they were more like volunteers, such as wives or mistresses who were following their soldier men. Being a war nursing at that time was seen as a job for the lower class and no “respectable” woman could be seen in a military hospital. During the Civil War Phoebe Levy Pember, a young widow, went north to the confederate capital of Richmond. She eventually ran the world’s largest hospital, where on an average day she would supervise the treatment of 15,000 patients who were cared for by nearly 300 slave women. The war then led to a greater respect for nurses which was noticed by Congress. They then passed a bill providing pensions to Civil War nurses, but more importantly this led to the profe...
Before the modernization and reform of their profession in the mid-1800s, nurses were believed to perform “women’s work”, which implied menial duties, unskilled service, and an overall lack of skill (Garey, "Sentimental women need not apply"). This mentality was substantiated by the “untrained attendants, [including] past patients, vagrants, and prostitutes,” that performed a variety of nursing tasks (Garey). Florence Nightingale’s nursing experiences during the Crimean War, her subsequent publication of Notes on Nursing, and her work to build up professionalism within the field transformed the way that the world and society viewed nursing. She introduced invigorating ideas of patient care, nursing roles and responsibilities, and was a strong proponent of nursing education. Nightingale’s overall work inspired and changed the profession of nursing, laying the foundation for its
During the Civil War, women began to feel like part of the work force, but along with it, was the downfall of being considered "service workers", which is very similar to being a servant. Nurses had to suffer through much conformity, as they had to wait hand and foot on male patients, while at the same time being scrutinized by their male "overseers". These issues that nurses faced in the nineteenth century, continue even to this day, with a little more ease, but we are still driven by a patriarchal society that just isn't ready to let go. Through the works of Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gillman, one can see the hardships that Nineteenth century women were faced with when it came to working. These stories bring to light the fact that, by overcoming oppression, through the strength and desire that leads to resistance, women have been able to achieve self-reliance, which makes their "service work" considered to have with it, an achieved independence. These stories show us the struggles that women faced in the nin...
She first developed an interest in nursing during World War I because she felt an inner need to help wounded and sick soldiers (“Virginia Avenue Henderson – the mother,” 1996). She started her nursing career in 1918 at the US Army School of Nursing and later became a nursing instructor at the Norfolk Protestant Hospital in Virginia (Smith, 1997). Henderson received her education during the empiricist era of nursing, which focused on needs however, she felt her theoretical ideas developed and advanced throughout her nursing career and experiences in the medical surgical unit. This is where she realized the importance of helping the patient return to independence so that recovery can continue after hospitalization. Henderson became familiar first with physiological principals while obtaining her graduate education. The understanding of these components became the major foundation for her care in nursing practice. (McEwen & Wills,