The First American Nursing School Was Established in 1872 at

History of Nursing Education in America

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Emergence of American Nursing Schools - 1790 - 1930's (Great Depression)

Diploma Programs

Associate Degree

Baccalaureate

Advance Practice Nursing

Oral History Project - includes why and how this website began

 Emergence of American Nursing Schools

From 1790 thru 1930's

18th Century (1700's) and early nineteenth century (1800 – 1870's)

In the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century women, without formal training, unpaid and relying on 'family' and /or folk remedies, were expected to care for family members and neighbors who were ill or unable to care for themselves. One notable exception were women members of religions orders who provided the only trained nursing care of the sick.

1798 - The distinction of having made the first attempt to teach nurse attendants belongs to the New York Hospital and to Dr. Valentine Seaman, one of its medical chiefs; a remarkably broad minded man conceived and initiated the first system of instruction to nurses on the American continent.

Dr. Joseph Warrington was described as " a man of liberal opinions and high ideals. Under his direction on March 5, 1839 the Nurse Society of Philadelphia was formed . Desiring trained women with" good habits, a sense of responsibility, and patient dispositions" to visit patients and provide nursing care, the women were taught by the physicians in the lying in department of the Philadelphia dispensary to provide nursing care.

Our Foundation: Florence Nightingale Training School St. Thomas Hospital 1871

After the Crimean war Florence Nightingale received funding to start a school of nursing in conjunction with Sr. Thomas Hospital. Funding came from several sources including 4000 £ from soldiers who had fought in the Crimean war. Sir James Pakington proposed a resolution that funds be raised to ''enable her to establish an institution for the training, sustenance, and protection of nurses and hospital attendants" Unfortunately, Miss Nightingale‟s health prevented her from personally carrying out her plans for nurse training. Instead a Mrs. Wardroper, matron of St. Thomas Hospital, was responsible for organizing and operating the school. Mrs. Wardroper was described by Florence Nightingale, as "the perfect example of the old fashioned military matron"The school opened June 15, 1860 with 15 pupil nurses. The administration of the school was separate from hospital administration.

Florence Nightingale‟s plan proposed that women trained in nursing care were to work in hospitals and infirmaries after graduation; they were not trained for private duty care in the home. Graduates were encouraged "to become pioneers, teachers and „regenerators‟ in hospital management and nursing systems,"iii. As vacancies occurred in the staff of St. Thomas Hospital, these were filled with Nightingale nurses; as positions opened in other hospitals, Nightingale trained nurses were sent to other hospitals to train nurses in the Nightingale method, thereby acting as regenerators‟. Source: Nutting& Dock, History f Nursing,1907 vol. 2, p 182 - 183

Emergence of American Nursing Schools: 'Nightingale Model' Training schools

Just as in England at the end of the Crimean war, the Civil War became the impetus for the establishment of the training schools in America. In America, the first schools for nurses were established after the war and from those there was a steady increase in the number of hospital nurse training schools in America.

1872 - New England Hospital for Women and Children (NEHWC)
In 1872, five students were admitted to the new program started by Dr. Susan Dimock.. On September 23, 1873, the first student, Linda Richards received her diploma and is considered America's first trained nurse. Nursing historians do not consider the program a Nightingale model .program. This author believes that the NEHWC program, which graduated our first trained nurse, should be considered a Nightingale model program for the following reasons:Susan Dimock MD originated the training program at New England Hospital for Women and Children (NEHWC). .

Dr. Dimock received her apprenticeship type medical training in America and then spent four years study and graduated with distinction in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics, at the University of Zurich in Germany. At the end of this time she spent a year at Kaiserswerth where she learned the system of Nursing under the Deaconesses. She then traveled to Britain, where she met Florence Nightingale and discussed Miss Nightingale's model of education.
Moreover, both Dr. Dimocks' mentor Dr. Billroth, and Ms. Nightingale stressed the significance of well-trained nurses in surgical settings. Inspired by these mentors, as well as by the nurses' training she observed at Kaiserswerth, Germany (where Ms. Nightingale originally studied), Dr. Dimock opened her formal nurses' training program at the NEHWC September 1, 1872, only 12 days after assuming her position as resident physician.

This was a year before the much-heralded "Nightingale schools" of nursing began at Bellevue Hospital, New York, NY; the New Haven Hospital (originally called the Connecticut Training School at the State Hospital); and the training school at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston On return to Boston she become resident physician at the NEHWC. As America did not at that time have any trained nurses, Dr. Dimock assumed charge of both the hospital and the school. From 1872 to 1875, she professionalized the first formal nurses training program in the United States.

Sources:

1. https://bulletin.facs.org/2021/03/susan-dimock-md-pioneering-american-physician/

2. Richards, Linda 1901, How Trained Nursing Began in America at the New England Hospital . American Journal of Nursing, Nov. 1901, 2 (2) 88-89.
3. Larkin, M.E., Marcella, M., Alger, S., Fisher, S., Ditomassi, M., (May 31, 2020) "Voices Echoing Forward: One Institution's Efforts to Preserve Nursing History" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 25, No. 2, Manuscript 3.

The 'Big Three' Nightingale Model Training Schools

The first three Nightingale model schools considered to have started in 1873 are:

Bellevue NY(May); Short History of School of Nursing
New Haven, CT (October);
Massachusetts General, MA (November)Short History MGH School of Nursing

While the hospital training schools in the United States were considered to be based on the model created by Florence Nightingale, there were basic differences between the English Nightingale model and the United States Nightingale model. In America training schools were administered by the hospital; the supervisor of nurses was also the director of the school. This was felt to be the best arrangement as the hospital was staffed by the student nurses. Schools were referred to as Training schools and they used an apprenticeship model:. Their priorities were: "Service first, Education second" which meant that classroom work was not seen as important and took place only after the student's clinical work was completed. After graduation the nurses were expected to work as private duty nurses. A few graduates were hired by the hospital as supervisors or head nurses.

American nursing schools were under hospital administration and used the apprenticeship model characterized by:
• Probationary period (2 months - amount of time varied. One of the problems in the early schools was lack of consistent standards) Probationers (Probies) usually started immediately on the wards - making beds and other simple tasks.• Pupil nurses staffed the hospitals. Program length initially 1year. Later increased to 2 then 3 years. Hospital administrators considered the pupil nurses as part of the work force; their early so-called 'training' included cleaning, food preparation, laundry and patient care.
• Nursing was seen as women's work. The majority of schools only admitted females. There were, however, several schools of nursing for males. {Ex. Mills School of Nursing for Men at Bellevue Hospital - 1888; St. Vincent School of Nursing for men - 1888]
• Background nurse training: military and religious philosophy of strict discipline. Strong emphasis on morality. Superintendents supervised every aspect of the pupil nurse's life.- obedience was expected at all times.• Service came first, Education second. Lectures on theory were given by physicians (usually in the evening to a tired group of pupils); Superintendents of nurses taught 'hands-on' care. There was no standard curriculum.
• Hours were long: Most pupil nurses worked 7 am to 7 pm with 3 hours off for dinner, study and recreation; night hours 7 pm to 7 am without time off. {Comment: Superintendents looked for not only strong moral character but physically strong young females. Even so, many students dropped out due to illness )

For the entire article, click the button below:

 Diploma Programs
Hospital Based

After the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale received funding to start a school of nursing St. Thomas Hospital. In 1873 three hospitals established the first 'Nightingale' nurse training schools in America. These were ·New York Training School at Bellevue Hospital,, the Connecticut Training School at New Haven State Hospital and the Training School at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In the Nightingale English Model , the administration of the school is separate from hospital administration.In the United States the administration of the nursing school was under hospital administration and was similar to an apprenticeship program -pupil nurses staffed the hospital.·The length of the program length initially was 2 years and later increased to 3 years. Nursing, seen as women's work, emphasized service not education - the philosophy of hospitals was: Service first, Education second.

Oral Histories

Diploma Graduates

Memories: an era of caring-1892 to 1999
A Tribute to Springfield hospital/Baystate Medical Center, School of Nursingi
When Baystate Medical Center School of Nursing closed in 1999, the memory book committee with the assistance of Baystate Health Systems created a book entitled "an era of caring". The book contains memories from the classes of the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. In the following, you'll find the memories of the classes from the classes of these eras. Click here to read these memories

Hartford Hospital Graduate 1935 - her career led her to became a Director, Springfield Hospital - Baystate School of Nursing. She is the Author: One Hundred Years of Nursing at Baystate Medical Center - A Rich Heritage.

Photos Pictures of Springfield Hospital +Baystate Hospital School of Nursing + Hospital scenes from the 80's.

Diploma Graduate 1961 - Career from Diploma to Masters and Faculty

I graduated from the Springfield Hospital School of Nursing in 1961.
(Why did you go into nursing?)
At the time when I went into nursing, women either went to Elms to become teachers or they went to Mercy Hospital or the Springfield Hospital t become nurses. My best friend and big sister who was a year older than I am was going to Baystate so I said, "I think that's where I'll go." I applied and got in and the rest is history (laughs).
(It wasn't Baystate?)
It was the Springfield Hospital School of nursing.We had a wonderful class maybe makes it so unforgettable. We were very ... what's a good word to describe my class? Most of the time when it was time to study we did but when it was time to play nobody could stop us and we always were one. There may have been 27 students but we were one voice most of the time. …
I graduated in '61, spent some time working in Florida. There were four of us that went to work in Miami. We went out there and we graduated in June and went out there in September. Shortly after graduation three of us decided we would go to work in Miami and we worked at St. Frances hospital on the Beach….

I went for work for the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. And that too was a wonderful experience because that's where I found nursing at its best. I met with Marie Manthey who wrote the book on primary nursing, and she had helped me with primary nursing at the Connecticut hospice, so when I got to NIH, I said this is what they're doing here is primary nursing, it just haven't called it that…..Clinical competence... we spend a lot of time on this at UMass although I teach in the Berkshires and I teach online but I still go in for the meetings and we look at clinical competence and we look at how to measure and I still think it's outcome based. That doesn't mean you have to have a good outcome. You have to look at outcomes and good outcomes are always favorable. There are some people who are still bullshitting their way through competencies...

Springfield Hospital 1945 Graduate

Baystate Medical Center School of Nursing (Diploma Program)
Date graduated : May 1980 (Valedictorian)

Baystate School of Nursing Timeline

Diploma Graduate 1960

I chose nursing, not that I wanted to this all my life--at some point in high school I realized I needed to pick a profession and I started to get interested into possibly joining the navy as a navy nurse as a way to travel and I chose Springfield Hospital School of Nursing because there were a few graduates from my town to attended and speaking with them they spoke very highly of their education and the availability of positions for them when they graduated and it was almost like you'll never be out of a job. And I did enjoy going to Baystate Medical Center formally Springfield Hospital; meta lot of wonderful friends that I still keep in touch with and the instructors were just awesome. Very excellent people and I believe when we did our rotations to different areas like the Institute of Living, I felt that there was always a lot of respect for the Springfield Hospital students/. We were always chose first to be in charge of the different units.

For complete history Diploma Graduate 1960 Click Here

Springfield Hospital/Baystate Medical Center - School of Nursing -1892-1999
School motto: to learn, to serve, to live

Baystate Medical Center was formed April 1.1976 as a result of the merger of several hospitals in Springfield, MA. (See School of Nursing Timeline on Web Site). The earliest hospital was Springfield Hospital founded in 1869 and incorporated in 1883. From its earliest days, Springfield Hospital employed nurses to care for the sick; some of these nurses were graduates of early training schools while others had no formal education. As the Springfield Hospital grew and attracted more patients, In 1891 Miss Lucinda Howard one of the Trustees, convinced the Board that the hospital should have a training school.1 Springfield Hospital School of Nursing opened with one probationer on May 18, 1892. Read about the Baystate Hospital Nursing School History - Click Here

Northampton, MA - Cooley Dickinson Hospital 1908

Cooley Dickinson Hospital Diploma Graduate 1949

I went to Cooley Dickinson Hospital Nursing School because it was low cost. I didn't want to leave home. I just was out of high school. I really didn't want to go to nursing school - it was another three years of school. But I wanted to be a nurse and I needed to do it and that was the fastest way to do it. My father wanted me to go to the nuns up in New York, and that was a five year school in those days, and I could not... could not see myself doing that because I had gone to parochial school; grammar school with the nuns and I didn't want t do that again. And besides, Cooley Dick was close by. Not that I could come home when I wanted to but at least it was close. That was in 1946. The fall of '46 I got out of High School in June and went into nursing in September of '46. I graduated in '49. Read More

Early Memories of Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Early Memories of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, by Florence B. Bates, R.N. (Class of 1917), October 9, 1968 (Article published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette - used with permission)

I am sure that all of the old graduates of Cooley Dickinson Hospital are very proud of what the 50 bed hospital of our day has grown into, but whenever a few of us get together we nostalgically talk of "when we were training." However, not many of us know much about the beginning of medical and nursing services in Northampton. The first building that had any relationship to a hospital were Water Cures. A Dr. Ruggles had the first, not far from the present hospital, which became defunct after Dr. Ruggles death. It was taken over by Dr. Charles Munde in 1850, when hydrotherapy was very much in vogue and in two years he was able to liquidate hid debts and erect a large new building. For 15 years he had a very thriving business and he became so prosperous that when the building burned in 1865 he was able to retire and live abroad. In a sense Dr. Munde could be called the pioneer of the present modern physiotherapy department.

Caleb Cooley Dickinson was a somewhat eccentric resident of Hatfield. He was a patient of Dr. James Fay, who for many years drove with horse and buggy to patients in the outlying towns. During his last illness Dickinson told Dr. Fay that he had accumulated some money and would like to know of some worthy cause to leave it to. A hospital for Northampton had long been needed and it was through Dr. Fay's suggestion that the money was left for that purpose and on January 1, 1886 the wooden two and a half story structure was opened for patients. Until 1900 this was the only facility and in that year the two story brick Wright annex was built and a year later the Henry Shepherd Surgery. All of this was before the three story brick building replaced the original hospital which many of us knew as the Nurses Home.

My first duty was on "B" ward on the second floor of the Wright Annex. This ward of 12 beds was for women and children. "A" ward for men was on the first floor. Both wards were bright and sunny, with windows on the East and West. On the north were fireplaces and over each a marble plaque lettered in gold. On either side of the fireplaces were doors leading to small semicircular sun parlors. In the summer they were used for wheelchair and ambulatory patients. In winter they were used for the fresh air treatment of pneumonia patients. Read the Complete Article

1958 Graduate Mercy Hospital School of Nursing (Springfield Ma.)

Interview: May 24, 2010
(For the record, I'd like you to say where you went to school, why you went into nursing and we'll go on from there.)
I went to the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing which no longer exists. It was in Springfield, Massachusetts. I graduated in 1958. I got out of high school in 1955, went to school in September; it was a three year program and in September of 1958 I graduated.
I really had... did not know much about nursing. There was no one in my family who was a nurse. It was looked down upon as something that nobody would do. And I had a friend and her name was Alice and we went to high school together; we went to Cathedral. And we were in junior year and so one day she said to me would you come with me after school? She said I'm going over to Wesson Memorial Hospital which was on High St/ she said I'm going to sign up to be a green girl. So I said oh yea, I'll go with you. So I went with her and she was interviewed by Pauline Neals, and she was the director of volunteers and I can still remember her: she was the smallest little women I ever saw. And she was running the volunteer dept. and she had white hair and she would go on with what the green girls do and they had the uniform and everything and I thought it was terrific so I signed up also. And when I went home and I said gee, guess what I did today at the dinner table, I thought my family would flip out. My mother and father (laughs)... And so my father said, "well go do it because you won't do it for more than two weeks". Well, I did it for the whole school year then Alice and I both had jobs for the summer and we went back to Cathedral for our senior and we both decided to go into nursing. And that was it…..

We went to class for the first six months and after that we went on the units. And let me tell you today nobody would do it. It was almost like slavery. But when I look back on it, it was just absolutely wonderful. I had some wonderful experiences. I still do the legal aspects of nursing today and I still tell the students how wonderful my nursing education was. It was very hard I would never wish it on anybody with the nuns. I mean they were very... oh m God.

Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Springfield, MA 1946 Graduate
After graduation, she became a Nun - her remarkable career lead to being appointed the admisinstrator of Mercy Hospital. Read complete interview 1946 Diploma Graduate

Mercy Hospital Diploma Graduate, 1963

Interview date: 1/18/2010
(If you could tell me the school you went to and when you graduated...
I went to the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing and that was a diploma school. I graduated in 1963.
(Can you tell me... tell me a little bit about the program, but first of all, why did you go into nursing? Why did you choose Mercy?)
That's interesting. I went to Sacred Heart School, which was a block away from Mercy Hospital and I was there for 12 years. And you could always see the Mercy Hospital in the background. And so many of my classmates which numbered 5- at the time, half of us decided we'd be nurses and the other half decided to be teachers and some went to the telephone company. And insurance companies' Liberty Mutual insurance company. So I think of all our graduates that's what happened to us: I think that's what happened to us. Some went to nursing; some went to the Elms and various colleges in Massachusetts. None of us really went way out of Massachusetts for our advanced degrees. And then as I say, others of our group that went to the Telephone Company or Liberty Mutual.
(Why did you choose nursing instead of the telephone company?)
I think I liked the sciences better. That was my strength. My strength was in the sciences and I'm more of a hands-on person than... that's what I feel comfortable in.
(And you chose Mercy because...?)
I chose Mercy because it was two blocks away from my home... maybe four or five blocks away from my home. And so that gave me the advantage if every night I
decided I wanted a home cooked meal, I'd walk up the hill and go to Gold street and get a home cooked meal.
(Did you live on campus?)
Yes.
(Tell me what you remember about the school) For the complete oral history click here.

Nursing Education - Associate Degree Programs

The associate degree nursing program: ". . . presents a new type of nursing program in a new setting; a program carefully designed to fit within the pattern of community/junior college education, to meet the needs of interested candidates who might otherwise be lost to nursing, and to prepare nurses for a specific range of nursing functions-those embodied in direct patient care." (Lewis, 1964)

Why a Two-Year Collegiate Nursing Program ?

The urgent needs that came to the forefront of the public consciousness and the immediate occasion for the development of the associate degree nursing program were primarily due to a shortage of nurses after World War II as well as the reform movement in nursing intent on moving nursing education into higher education. (Haase' 1990)

Dr. Montag sought to alleviate a critical shortage of nurses by decreasing the length of the education process to two years and to provide a sound educational base for nursing instruction by placing the program in community/junior colleges. In 1958, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded the implementation of the project at seven pilot sites in four states (Haase, 1990) Read further about the Early History of Associate Degree Nursing

Haase, P. T., (1990), The origins and Rise of Associate Degree Nursing Education, Duke University Press Published in Cooperation with the National League for Nursing.

Lewis, E, (1964), The Associate degree program, American Journal of Nursing, 64, 5. 78-81

Mildred Montag, Ed.D

 Associate degree education for nursing began as part of an experimental project at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York in the 1950s. In her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Montag proposed educating a technical nurse for two years to assist the professional nurse, whom she envisioned as having a baccalaureate degree.

Springfield Technical Community College

History Springfield Technical Community College Associate Degree
Nursing Program - As Told by Students and Faculty

As the focus of nursing education moved from a service focus to a focus on education, and students no longer provided the majority of hospital staffing, hospital schools of nursing began feeling the financial pinch. In Western Massachusetts hospital schools of nursing began closing. The only area college that offered a nursing program was the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). Associate degree nursing programs, having been successfully introduced in the 1950's and 60's,were seen as an answer to the need for an educated nursing work force. In the 1970's, two Western Massachusetts Community Colleges, Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield and Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, developed Associate Degree nursing programs.

The following history of the nursing program at STCC is told through the oral histories of the first Dean, Dr. Mary E. O'Leary1, who developed the nursing program and graduates of the program. These are their stories. According to Dr. O'Leary**:
"While I was at the Providence Hospital School of Nursing, the Sisters of Providence saw the wave of the future and we; St. Lukes in Pittsfield; St. Vincent's in Worcester; Mercy in Springfield, and Providence in Holyoke administrators and myself met. The issue was how do you develop an associate degree program without an assisting college? So we met with [the]President of The Elms College to query if the sisters worked out a collaborative, what kind of a relationship could they develop with the Elms College?. Would it be the Elms or the Sisters of Providence? Needless to say there was never any real follow up to it.'
"In this area, Springfield had Springfield Trade High School which is now Putnam Vocational School, it used to be Springfield Trade, then it became Springfield Technical Institute which incorporated the post high school thirteenth and fourteenth years in select programs. They had cosmetology and the practical nursing program. At the time of the impetus to have a community college, Springfield Technical Institute made a transition and became Springfield Technical Community College. And Holyoke was one of the two first community colleges in the Commonwealth." Read more about the history of STCC:

History Springfield Technical Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program - As Told by Students and Faculty

**Permission granted (9/9/2101)by Dr. O'Leary to use name, titles and positions held.(9/9/2010):

1974 ADN Graduate STCC

Well it was way back on Christmas Eve in 1971 that I was stationed at the Mercy Hospital and at that time I was assigned to the Business Office and the Accounting Office also. Well on Christmas Eve, anybody that is in the hospital really has to be there because in those days they would clean out the hospital as much as possible so people could go home with their families. Well we had a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and as a person I cannot go to bed say at 9:00 and get at 11:30 for Mass, I have to stay right through. So a few of us that were able, we would go around the floors and visit the sick people that were in the hospital at that time. I found it almost like a second vocation to me to do that, going into some rooms where people would be so happy to see a visitor and I said to myself, what am I doing downstairs behind closed doors, counting other people's money and sending out bills when I should be up here on a one-to-one with a person? I couldn't get that thought out of my mind. It just nagged and nagged at me so I finally got up my courage to ask my superiors if there is any chance I could change my ministry and they were very much in favor of me going into nursing. Well my hope was…I was 42 years old and I did not feel I could handle an RN program, especially for an Associate Degree at STCC. I thought maybe I could go to be an LPN, as long as I was somewhere in the nursing field. Well they did not go along with my thought. They said well, it is going to be hard for you either way, go for it. Go for your RN and try it and if it doesn't work out, we will take it from there. So I did, I had a very close friend of mine, Sister Elizabeth R. and then Sister Mary O. and, of course, Mary O'Leary a friend of mine from Holyoke …they all were teaching there at STCC. Not that it made any difference because I was just like one of the others, no favoritism on their part; however, I was able to enter the class in 1972 I believe it was and it was very, very wonderful. We had graduation and went for State Boards…I hope I'm not rambling.

No you're not, you are doing fine. It's exactly what we need. Read the Complete Interview

STCC Graduate 1987

For the record, , tell me why you decided to become a nurse, and why you chose to go to STCC and we'll go from there.

ST: I chose to become a nurse because I really wanted to help people. I was a juvenile diabetic and I was taught by someone to take care of myself who I thought was wonderful. She did a wonderful job and I just wanted to return the favor; to see if other children were in the same position and I needed to help them in the same way. So she was very inspirational.

I graduated from STCC in 1987 and it was the only school that would accept me as a student in the nursing program. All the other nursing programs were… left to want to take male students in their programs. I tried U Mass, Northeastern and Boston. Boston College – and just for ha ha's because they were very close to where I lived – Elms College too and they all said no. So I wanted to transfer from STCC because I had an ADN program, I was in the ADN program in general studies and I wanted to take that general studies and transfer into a nursing program. And I'm not sure that that's why they said no but one program told me they don't accept male nurses. For the complete interview, click here.

Holyoke Community College

I was born in New Jersey, I went to school at Holyoke Community College, Class of 1997. My formal education, I graduated from Westfield high School in 1968. I graduated from Holyoke Community College in 1970 with an associate's degree in science. Graduated Westfield State in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in education. Graduated then from Holyoke Community College with an associate degree in nursing in 1977 where I guess my nursing career began. Read more - ADN Graduate 1977 Holyoke Community College

Additional ADN Graduate Interviews - Click Here

Baccalaureate Nursing Degree

History of Baccalaureate Nursing Education and Entry Into Practice

"As we cast a backward glance, we cannot fail to be impressed with the inevitability,. . . of the relationship of the school of nursing with the university becoming an established universal fact." __Goodrich, 1935

From the beginning of formal, organized nurse training, having 'trained' nurses helped make possible physicians' advances in medicine and surgery. And, as medicine and surgery advanced, the nurses' role expanded. Their expanding role required that theory -- the „why as well as the how' -- needed to be included in nursing education.The first schools of nursing in the United States were one year hospital based programs using the apprenticeship model; the focus was on practice rather than theory. Later, schools developed two year programs followed by three-year programs. Graduates initially received a certificate of completion and in later years, a diploma. As each hospital formed its own school of nursing the new superintendent of nurses brought with her the curriculum and educational practices of the school in which she had trained. The result was a lack of standardization of educational practices and curriculum. Indeed there were no educational standards for admission; a prospective nurse might have anywhere from one year of high school to a high school diploma; few had any college education.

Read more on the History of Baccalaureate Nursing Education and Entry Into Practice

Oral Histories

Excerpts from 1991 Elms Graduate

My reason for going into the field of nursing literally was because med school and veterinary school were too expensive and took up too much time. And I had also had been influenced by some of the... well, I guess one or two nurse images I saw on TV. In the 70s they didn't promote a good image, especially in the soap operas: I couldn't stand that. My role model was Margaret Houlihan from MASH. Her and one of the gals from Emergency that was popular back in the 70s. I loved that thing. That's a while back.

What was your reason for choosing Elms at that time??

It was close to home. It was reasonably priced. My father wanted me to go to AIC because it was cheaper. I wanted to go to a women's college where I was not going to have the distraction of a campus such as UMass. And I really didn't want to go to AIC. I liked the campus at Elms. It had a good feel and that's where I wanted to be. My mother pretty much told my father, "Bob if she wants to go to the Elms, she's going to the Elms.

So at this point, when you think back on it, I understand nobody really feels prepared for what you're going to get, but what do you feel that Elms College and their Baccalaureate program prepared you well for, and what do you think it should... what changes would you recommend?

I think one problem with the baccalaureate programs is that there isn't enough clinical time. If I hadn't spent the time that I did at the SNAP, I would have been lost. One thing that it does do it really integrated the information for the disease processes in addition to you know not only is this person in this bed sick with this disease, but they're also going through the psychological changes because of this. In addition to that, you have the whole family unit that may or may not be getting involved in this. And it helps me to kind of organize all of that in my head to be able to deal with each patient as an individual instead of just going in and performing a duty or looking on my sheet and seeing what medication I have to administer.

So because you had been a SNAP, how was your orientation?
My orientation and my preceptor for that orientation was wonderful, She was a long time nurse, her first name was Marie. She smoked (laughs) and when I'd go down with her for break because I didn't know anybody else, we'd go down what was then the smoker's lounge. They actually had a glassed in cage for the smokers with a sliding glass door. So I'd go in there and my asthmatic lungs would get a full share of nicotine and smoke for the ten or fifteen minutes she was down there, not to mention lunch. And we'd go back up to the floor and do our thing.

Recommendation

I would at this point steer anybody into a baccalaureate program if they could afford it. And as an alternative if finances aren't quite substantial since we're in a recession, that to do an associates program and return within one to two years to complete your bachelors would be an adequate alternative. And I've actually counseled well, I call them family, but my best friend of 20+ years, one of his daughters wanted to go into nursing school and I remember telling her about various programs and what she needed to look for and what she needed to do. And she ended up going for an associates and I told her when she got into the program and when she graduated, make sure you go back and get your bachelor's degree so you can have a lot more options. Because now, whereas when I graduated nobody wanted us, we're all anybody wants now to go anywhere: to do a management position to do a research position, to go into CQI in a hospital, out in the community, anywhere, in a clinic. They want baccalaureate nurses.

Read the complete interview…

Elms College Faculty

Westfield State College - Oral history of the First Dean of the Nursing Program

Towards the Future…

Westfield State College is now Westfield State University. On June 3, 2019 Westfield State University and STCC announced partnership in biotechnology program.

"A newly signed agreement creates an affordable pathway for students who earn an associate degree in biotechnology from Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) to transfer credits and pursue a bachelor's degree from Westfield State University.

In a ceremony on June 3, STCC President John B. Cook, Ph.D., and Westfield State President Ramon S. Torrecilha, Ph.D., signed an articulation agreement that formally connects the programs. Students will receive credit from Westfield State for program-related courses completed at STCC. They can apply those credits toward the requirements for a bachelor of science degree in biology with a concentration in biotechnology at Westfield State.

"Biotechnology is a key example of our changing economy and the need to interconnect science with technology," Dr. Cook said. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Westfield State as it launches its program, knowing the biotech industry is growing and talented workers are in demand." Copied From the Westfield State University website.June 20, 2019

1960 Boston College School of Nursing — Career includes perspective on the early history of ADN programs and as faculty University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Nurse Practitioner

Dr. Loretta Ford, Nurse Practitioner

University of Rochester R Nurses Carry on Legacy of Innovation

Dr. Loretta Ford's work a half century ago thrust the nursing profession in a new direction and transformed the health care system. Ever since, UR nurses have paved the way for generations of nurses to follow.

Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, FAAN, FAANP; Co-founder of the nurse practitioner role in 1965.jpg

Click Image for You Tube Video of Dr. Ford discussing the history of Advanced Practice Nurses and Nurse Practitioners

The First American Nursing School Was Established in 1872 at

Source: https://www.americannursinghistory.org/nursing-education-history

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