Knowra History of Nursing History of Nursing The study of how nursing practices, institutions, education, and professional roles developed over time, from household and religious care to a modern profession.
Florence Nightingale : British nurse and health reformer whose work during the Crimean War helped establish modern nursing education and hospital sanitation. Her reforms became a defining model for professional nursing in the nineteenth century.
Mary Eliza Mahoney : The first professionally trained Black nurse in the United States, graduating from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1879. Her career exposes the barriers racial discrimination imposed on nursing education and practice.
Nursing education : Formal and informal preparation for nursing practice, including clinical instruction and professional study. Changes in training reveal how nursing moved from apprenticeship toward schools and universities.
Public health nursing : Nursing practice focused on improving health among populations through prevention, education, and community services. It grew as nurses extended care beyond hospitals into homes and neighborhoods.
Midwifery : The skilled care of people during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Its distinct history shows how nursing and other care professions developed overlapping but separate roles.
Crimean War : A conflict fought from 1853 to 1856 by Russia against an alliance including Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire. Poor military medical care during the war made nursing reform a public issue.
Lillian Wald : American nurse and social reformer who founded the Henry Street Settlement and helped develop public health nursing. Her work expanded nursing from hospitals into communities and social reform.
Hospital : An institution providing medical treatment, diagnosis, and care for patients. Hospitals became central workplaces and training settings as nursing professionalized.
Nursing union : A labor organization that represents nurses in negotiations over wages, working conditions, and professional concerns. Collective organizing addressed nurses’ working conditions and influence over care.
Medicine : The practice and study of diagnosing, treating, and preventing illness and injury. Nursing’s professional development unfolded alongside, and often within hierarchies led by, medicine.
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