European Journal for Nursing History and Ethics (ENHE)
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Spreading Nigthingale Nursing. A Slow and Tortuous Process
Get PDFThis article studies four matrons who tried to introduce Nightingale nursing into their hospitals: Angélique Lucille Pringle at the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary 1874–1887, Maria Machin at the Montreal General Hospital 1875–1878, Emily Aston at the Eastern Hospital 1887–1889, and Flora Masson at the Radcliffe Infirmary 1891–1896. Contrary to popular belief, Nightingale nursing did not spread rapidly around the globe. Although many early nursing reformers called their training schools Nightingale schools, few understood Nightingale’s basically religious approach to nurse training. Some Nightingale matrons simply ran the nursing service in the old way but these four matrons did try to introduce some or all of Nightingale’s principles. The article studies the opposition from hospital governors and doctors with whom they had to deal, the motivations of the four matrons and the progress they made
Enigmas of Imperial Nursing: Florence Nigthingale, Catherine Grace Loch and the Indian Army Nursing Service
Get PDFProfessional nurse, Catharine Grace Loch made a significant contribution to the development of the Indian Army Medical Services in the late nineteenth century. With the notable exception of George and Lourdusamy (2023), historians have almost entirely overlooked her work. This article addresses our lack of understanding of her project in India, focussing on her genteel struggle with the imperialist military medical establishment of her day and drawing out several themes: Loch’s understanding of the nature of nursing and the need for fully-trained women to deliver it; the significance of Florence Nightingale’s mentorship and the enigmatic ways in which both women decoded the imperialist mentalities of their age in order to make use of Anglo-Indian networks and patronage; and the personal costs of Loch’s sustained efforts to implement a form of nursing that harmonised with her professional values. The main primary sources for the study are Loch’s letters to her mentor, Florence Nightingale, her correspondence with her sisters (which was subsequently developed into a Memoir), and her articles in professional nursing journals. I argue that Loch successfully navigated the complex terrain of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Indian military medicine. Nursing care was delivered by teams composed of lady-nurses, who she herself managed; military orderlies, over whom she had no control and little influence; and so-called ‘native’ orderlies, who suffered prejudice and sometimes outright abuse from doctors, orderlies and patients, and who, in consequence, withdrew psychologically and emotionally from the delivery of care. These complexities are analysed within the paper, which concludes that Loch’s work had a profound and positive influence on the tortuous history of late-nineteenth-century British India, but that these gains were won at the cost of Loch’s own health
Nursing and Economics
Get PDFEconomic contexts have shaped the working conditions of nurses in various ways throughout history. Increasing marketisation in the healthcare sector has been noted and discussed since the 1960s, in particular in terms of the social and human costs for both nurses and patients. The articles in this special issue situate the marketisation of nursing in different social contexts, differentiate it from the principle of sound financial management in nursing, and thus contribute to the historicisation of the currently politically charged concept of marketisation. The articles focus on the transformation of nursing care in the second half of the 20th century and examine both the opportunities for nurses and the consequences that resulted from the adoption of market-oriented practices in the field of nursing
Nursing Leadership during Italy’s Economic Miracle (1950–1970)
Get PDFBetween the 1950s and 1970s, Italy experienced far-reaching social reforms, following economic improvements to living conditions and the country’s industrial structure. The reforms were driven by the youth protests that swept across the entire Western world (May 1968 in France) and by the workers’ struggles in Italy (“Hot Autumn”). In the nursing world, these changes foreshadowed significant transformations on three levels: a) Professional: the growth of leadership roles and positions that helped make the profession increasingly active and visible within Italian society; b) Unions: nurses played a key role in struggles to obtain better working conditions (wages, shifts, staffing levels) and supported the establishment of a universal public health system; c) Scientific: nurses became involved in experiments aimed at developing innovative care methods, particularly in psychiatric hospitals. These three levels often overlapped. The objective of this study is to elucidate the evolutionary trajectory of the transformations that occurred in the nursing profession during the aforementioned period
At the Heart of Neoliberalism: The Privatisation of Long-term Care for Older People and the Everyday History of Economic Policy Ideas in the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain
Get PDFIn den 1980er und 1990er gab es in Großbritannien wie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland eine Wachstumswelle privat-gewerblicher Altenpflege. Die Pflegepolitik war in beiden Ländern bis dahin oft eher einen Nebenschauplatz sozialstaatlicher Expansion. Zu den Akteur*innen dieser Privatisierungskonjunktur zählten u. a. Pfleger*innen und Krankenschwestern, die neue berufliche Perspektiven suchten.Im Beitrag wird diese frühe Phase der Privatisierung der Altenpflege untersucht und nach den ökonomischen Ideen der neuen Pflegedienst- und Heimbetreiber*innen gefragt. Sie reflektierten über den Markt und die Möglichkeiten, die dieser ihnen als Unternehmer*innen bot. Sie vertraten Vorstellungen von einem harmonischen Verhältnis von Marktund Moral. Ziel ist es, die historische Pflegeforschung und die Geschichte der Ökonomisierung zu verknüpfen.The 1980s and 1990s saw significant growth in the private sector for long-term care for older people in both Great Britain and Germany. Until then, care policy in both countries had tended to be incidental to welfare state expansion. Among those involved in this privatisation boom were professional carers and nurses who were looking for new career paths. This article examines this early phase of the privatisation of care for older people and asks questions about the economic ideas espoused by the new care service and home operators, who reflected on the market and the opportunities it offered them as entrepreneurs. They advocated ideas based on a harmonious relationship between the market and morality. The aim is to link historical healthcare research and the history of marketisation
The Economics of Christian Nursing: How the Cost of Nursing Care was Recalculated during West Germany’s Secularisation Process
Get PDFChristliche Schwesternschaften waren seit ihrer Gründung auch Wirtschaftsunternehmen, die sich immer wieder aufgesellschaftliche Veränderungen einstellen mussten, um ihr finanzielles Überleben sicherzustellen. In Westdeutschlandstellten die gesellschaftlichen Umbrüche ab der zweiten Hälfte der 1950er Jahre die Gemeinschaften vor besondereHerausforderungen. Angesichts des Nachwuchsmangels, der steigenden Bedeutung gewerkschaftlich ausgehandelterArbeitszeitverkürzungen und Gehaltserhöhungen mussten der Arbeitskräfteeinsatz reorganisiert und dieArbeitskosten neu kalkuliert werden. In die Pflegepraxis zog eine neue Zeitökonomie unter dem Gebot der Effizienzein. (Betriebs-)wirtschaftliche Logiken erreichten damit auch den Kernbereich der Pflege. Das Ausscheiden der mutterhausgebundenenSchwestern leitete außerdem den Aufstieg professioneller Verwaltungen ein. Auch dies beförderteden Zugriff betriebswirtschaftlich-verwaltungstechnischer Logiken auf die Pflegepraxis.From the beginning, Christian sisterhoods have also been commercial enterprises that have had to constantly adapt to social changes in order to ensure their financial survival. In West Germany, the social upheavals from the second half of the 1950s onwards presented the communities with particular challenges. In view of the shortage of new recruits, the increasing importance of union-negotiated reductions in working hours and salary increases, the deployment of labour had to be reorganised and labour costs recalculated. A new time economy was introduced into nursing practice under the imperative of efficiency, as the logic of market economics reached the core area of nursing care. The withdrawal of the motherhouse-bound nurses also heralded the rise of professional administration, which in turn encouraged the application of business and administrative principles to nursing practice
Diaries of District Nurses in the Netherlands of the 1970s
No full textIn 1970 the Nederlandse Bond van Wijkverpleegsters (Dutch Association of District Nurses) decided to start a study project to counter the dominant image of district nurses, which was too much about washing patients and taking care of babies. They believed this image prevented them from being invited to sit on various boards and committees. The study project requested district nurses to keep diaries about their work, focusing specifically on the importance of the highly complex care they delivered in order to demonstrate their professionalism.Fifteen of those diaries were found in the archive of the Museum for Nursing History FNI (Florence Nightingale Institute), the Dutch knowledge center and virtual museum on the history of nursing and care, in fall 2022. This find opened up a totally new perspective on district nursing in the 1970s but also provided new insights: Some workrelated issues were already present 50 years ago and had not changed in the ensuing years
Personal Testimonies Relating to the Contemporary History of German Geriatric Nursing
Get PDFIm Mai 2022 hat der aus den Medien bekannte Pflegeexperte und -kritiker Claus Fussek seine Akten und Unterlagen dem Institut für Geschichte der Medizin der Robert Bosch Stiftung übergeben, wo sie jetzt archivfachlich aufbewahrt werden. Darunter befinden sich ca. 50.000 Zuschriften von Privatpersonen, die über Missstände, Gewalttaten und Probleme in bundesdeutschen Altenheimen von den 1990er Jahren bis ins Jahr 2021 berichten. Dieser umfangreiche Quellenbestand ist aufgrund seiner Größe und seines Zuschnitts ein-malig und für die historische und sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung von großer Relevanz, da er den Stellenwert und die Situation von Pflege innerhalb der deutschen Gesellschaft widerspiegelt. Bewohner:innen, Angehörige und Pflegekräfte berichten in unterschiedlicher Art und Weise über Missstände in deutschen Pflegeheimen, gleichzeitig erfährt man aus den Quellen aber auch viel zum Alltag in der Altenpflege.In May 2022, nursing expert and critic Claus Fussek, who became known in Germany through his numerous media appearances, entrusted his enormous collection of files and documents to the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation for archival storage. This material includes approximately 50,000 letters from private individuals who reported severe shortcomings, acts of violence, and other issues in German nursing homes, covering the period from the 1990s to the year 2021. This extensive corpus of sources is unique due to its size and the type of selection, and it is hugely important for historical and social science research: it is a comprehensive reflection on the position and situation of nursing within German society. While reporting from different perspectives on the disastrous situations in German nursing homes, the writers – residents, family members, and nursing staff – provide many insights into the everyday practice of nursing
Call to Action: a History of Nurse Activism in the Netherlands
Get PDFLiterature on nurse protests in the Netherlands is usually focused on the Witte Woede, a series of protests during the period 1989–1991. It is framed as a one-off, stand-alone event. Outside of these events, nurse protests and nursing activism are mostly invisible. This research calls for more diverse perspectives on nurse protests. Using objects and photographs from nursing history collections, we explore the under-researched history of nurse protests in the Netherlands. We analyse the media portrayal of earlier nurse protests to clarify why we do not remember them today. The objects analysed illustrate how nurses have at times positioned themselves as agents of change when their patients or profession needed it. We argue that such objects can be used to further debunk stereotypes of the apolitical, non-activist nurse
Suicide as a Challenge in Psychiatric Nursing
Get PDFThe focus of the 2023 issue is on suicide as a challenge for psychiatric nursing. The idea for the theme is based on the international conference „Suicide and its Prevention: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives in Nursing, 1880–2020“, which took place from 19-21 May 2022 in Leiden, the Netherlands, and was conceived by Cecile aan de Stegge and Manon Parry and organized in cooperation with the „European Association for the History of Nursing". We would like to thank the organizers for allowing us to incorporate the three papers in the „European Journal for Nursing History and Ethics“. The articles focus on how suicide was addressed in the context of psychiatric institutions in the 19th and 20th centuries and the challenges faced by nursing staff in dealing with suicides