General History of Nursing

Early Beginnings of Nursing

• Nursing and medicine have always gone hand in hand, finding its roots in the care of babies and small children. In that regard, every mother was inadvertently a nurse. Some of these mothers began to hone and practice their skills, making it a deeply rooted art and profession for all ages.
  
  

Christianity

• Nurses in the making decided that the next step was to move past love and nurturing alone in order to cure disease, so an educated structure was sought after and realized. The practice of nursing became more refined and clear with the proliferation of Christianity in pre-Crusades era. Despite the few records that exist, the formal profession of nursing is often directly associated with this movement.
  
  

The Crusades

• The world was on the brink of social reform following the Crusades, which would soon change the course of nursing. Germany set the wheels in motion for the current practices of nursing with the erection of the Deaconess Institute in Kaiserswerth. A facility was created that housed nursing instruction for deaconesses, which is similar to the nursing schools of modern day. Those who advanced out of the classes were hired around the world.
  
  

15th Century

• Across all cultures, nurses began to emerge, distinguishing two categories of nurses--a wet nurse and a dry nurse. A wet nurse would breastfeed, a dry nurse would not. The idea of nursing expanded past caring only for children during the 15th century, promoting the quality of life for all individuals. By the 17th century, nurses were still building their reputations as skilled workers.
  
  

Florence Nightingale

• Florence Nightingale is the most noted nurse in medical history. In 1851, at about the age of 31, she spent four months at the Deaconess Institute in Kaiserswerth, learning to be a nurse. During the Crimean War, she fought extreme opposition to be a nurse for many wounded soldiers. Because of her success in overcoming that opposition and impeccable nursing abilities, she saved countless lives during the war.
  
  Aside from her successes during the war, her wish was to open her own nursing school, so she established the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in 1860, the first of its kind. As with the Deaconess Institute, graduates were very much in demand across the world, making Nightingale's school a valuable asset. She was not the first nurse, but she molded nursing--and legitimized it--enough to forever be considered a pioneer of the profession.