The first written history of nursing is contained in the Bible. The Talmud and other scriptures also mention caring for the sick. In the 5th century BC, the Hippocratic Oath was born, delineating the responsibilities and ethics of doctors. However, it was much later that nursing became a profession and professional education and standards were established.
From the first century AD, taking care of the sick was the duty of women in religious orders. As a young child, Saint Marcella was deeply influenced by Saint Athanasuis, leading her to devote her life to works of Christian charity when she was widowed after only seven months of marriage. Her palatial home on Aventine Hill was transformed into a center for Christian fellowship and learning. It was during this time that she shared her knowledge of the scriptures and nursing with other noble ladies who wanted to live a life of asceticism. For this, she earned the title of first-ever nursing educator.
This changed in Northern Europe with the Crusades era in the years 1096 to 1291. Groups such as the Knights Hospitallers of St. John in Jerusalem took over nursing duties. For women, caring for the sick became the task of prisoners or prostitutes. In this dark age of nursing, nurses were relegated and caring for the sick or infirm became the most menial task.
This trend was not changed until the mid-19th century when Pastor Theodor Fliedner founded the Kaiserwerth School for Nursing in 1836 in Kaiserwerth, Germany. Until now, nurses had little formal training in nursing skills. An offshoot of this school was the Lutheran Order of Deaconesses. In 1850, Florence Nightingale became a student at this institution and forever changed the face of nursing. She was responsible for turning nursing into a profession as she traveled the world sharing her knowledge. Essentially, she became the first travel nurse. By the end of the 19th century, other schools had been established in Europe to train nurses.
After establishing the Kaiserwerth School, Theodor Fliedner, along with four deaconesses, traveled to the United States in 1849 to become involved in establishing the first training school in the US at the Pittsburgh Infirmary, later known as Passavant Hospital. They were influenced by Florence Nightingale and her philosophy of nursing education; these principles of cleanliness, nurse-patient relationship, disease prevention, continuing education, and medical teamwork are still the foundation of modern nursing education.
Although states such as New York and Pennsylvania had some nursing teachers on their hospital staff, the Pittsburgh Infirmary became the beginning of formal nursing education in the United States. By 1873, three nursing schools had been established in the US based on Florence Nightingale's nursing philosophy: these were Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, NY, Connecticut Training School in New Haven, CT, and Boston Training School in Boston, MA.
Florence Nightingale is credited with bringing respect to the nursing profession by creating a formal nursing training program. One of her students designed her original nursing uniforms using a system of uniforms with different bands and to indicate skill levels. The uniforms were used by all student nurses at her nursing school and were copied by other nursing schools and hospitals. They remained largely the same until the 20th century.
In the United States, the advent of the Civil War highlighted the need for nurses. Dorothea Dix was selected by the Union Army in 1861 as Superintendent of Women Nurses. She, in turn, recruited others to help care for the wounded. One of these recruits, Clara Barton, went on to found the American Red Cross.
In the following years there was much progress in the training of nurses. Dorothea Dix led the fight for improved health care for the mentally ill. The first college-level nursing program was established at Columbia University in 1907 through the efforts of Mary Adelaide Nutting and Isabel Robb.
In the 1980s, the traditional white nurse uniforms gave way to uniform scrubs. Originally only worn in the operating room in shades of green or blue, uniform scrubs found their way into all hospital nursing departments and doctor's and dentist's offices. Companies such as Cherokee Scrubs and Dickies Scrubs expanded the unisex scrub into a uniform with flattering styles for all body shapes and a multitude of colors and prints. Several hospital departments moved to wearing designated colors to differentiate their workspace. Prints became fun and many children's prints helped to make a child's hospital stay a little less imposing. By the 1990s, uniform scrubs had become very popular, as they were easier to work into. While some nursing schools still opt for traditional nursing uniforms for their students, many now outfit their nurses in uniform scrubs, keeping the traditional white gown and cap for their capping and graduations.
Today, the nursing profession has reached new heights of respect. With an abundance of nursing schools around the world, caring for the sick in most modern countries is not the preserve of untrained workers, leading to better health care and a better quality of life.
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