Nursing School History

The history of nursing spans many generations, and the role of the nurse has been both an inferior, objectionable profession as well as one that is highly regarded. In numerous countries throughout the world, early nursing care was either done by slaves or by members of the clergy who had no formal training and learned from hands-on experience. Early nursing focused on taking care of the dying, not helping heal the sick. Nursing has undergone a vast transformation through the years, and now most nurses are formally trained at nursing schools.

First School of Nursing

• The first documented school of nursing was established in India in 250 B.C. Only men were considered "pure" enough to be nurses. The Chakra stated that they must be of good behavior, pure, cleaver, skillful, kind, competent and willing to care for one that is ailing and not unwilling to do anything that may be ordered.

Kaiserworth Deaconess Institute

• Opened by Theodore Fliedner in Kaiserworth, Germany in 1836, Kaiserworth Deaconess Institute is the first recorded nursing school in western civilization. It was here that Florence Nightingale received her three months of formal training.

Florence Nightingale

• Attending to the injured during the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale realized that those caring for the sick and infirm needed some sort of formal training. When she returned to London in 1860, she opened the "Nightingale Training School for Nurses." She developed a curriculum to train nurses to a level qualified and competent to care for the sick. Nurses were taught to develop observation skills and empathy. Graduation from her school of nursing qualified one to work in hospitals both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The University of Manchester in Manchester, England was the first school to offer a degree level in nursing.

Army Nurse Corps

• Authorized by Congress in 1901, the Army Nurse Corps was formed to train nurses in various techniques to help save lives and help heal soldiers who were injured in battle. This acknowledgment by the government that nursing education needed to be formalized allowed the nursing profession to become a valid and respected job. This simple act put into motion events that would forever change the face of nursing.

Yale

• Although a Columbia University assistant professor, Annie Goodrich, was the first woman named president of the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses; Columbia does not receive the distinction of having the oldest autonomous school of nursing. This distinction goes to Yale University, which opened its doors in 1923; it was the first fully dedicated nursing school. In 1925, Yale established the first Bachelor of Science in nursing degree program and required that applicants complete two years of general education studies before they could apply to the nursing school.

Other Schools

• The University of Michigan had begun training nursing students in the late 1800s. Although not formally classified as a "nursing school", it did have six students graduate in 1893. During the next few decades, nursing schools began to spring up throughout the United States. Today there are hundreds of colleges, universities and technical schools that offer some sort of degree in nursing.