Most nursing students have nothing to answer when asked who first organized nursing school. Or else, they say the first person that comes to mind - Florence Nightingale.
Florence Nightingale was the pioneering nurse who volunteered her services to the British Army. Appalled by the lack of hygiene and decent care for the wounded soldiers she ministered to during the Crimean War, she wrote several books about proper nursing care and she rallied to improve sanitary conditions at all military hospitals. She was able to greatly reduce the death rate among soldiers by doing so. In her later years, she established the Nightingale School and Home For Nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital in London.
However, the beginning of the tradition of organized nursing actually began about two centuries earlier, in France.
A lady from a well-to-do family, Louise de Marillac, recently widowed then, decided to build a lifelong vocation of ministering to the sick and poor. Along with St. Vincent de Paul, she helped found the Daughters of Charity in the 1640s, in Paris, France. The Daughters of Charity earned the distinction of being the first group of non-cloistered sisters; meaning, they went out of their way to leave the nunnery walls and go serve the poor communities. Going out of the monastery walls for charity works was something only men were known to do previously.
Part of the mission of the Daughters of Charity was ministering to and caring for the sick. They visited the poor in their homes and in hospital wards. They wore simple peasant attire. They cared for the aged, the mentally ill, and anyone in need.
Recognizing her role in the ministry to the sick and the needy, the Catholic Church in 1934 proclaimed Louise de Marillac as a Saint. She was only of the few nurses who were accorded such.
So as you pursue your nursing studies, know that you are pursuing a long, proud tradition that was pioneered by women who had to fight tremendous odds and a lot of prejudice about women straying into the field of medicine.
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Article: Who Began The Modern Nursing Tradition? A Quick Lesson For Nursing Students Author: Travis Van Slooten Publication Date: 2010-12-10 Total Views: 126 Word Count: 363 Category:Home /
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