History of Nursing Schools in the U.S.
Though doctors strive hard to revive life in danger, perform major surgeries or treat a chronic disease, it would have been impossible without the heartfelt efforts of Nurses who work day and night, to uplift, maintain and recover the patient to his/her best health. Nursing is a major healthcare profession in the world today. The profession of nursing is an issue of national matters and hence the practice is defined and modulated by law of the nation or the law of the state. Also the entrance test and other modes of entry to the nursing profession are regulated at national or state level.
Initially, nursing education was offered only in the hospitals and similar circumstances. They learnt the practice only by trial and error methods under the supervision of senior nurses. This led to higher death rates and lack of precision among the nurses. This established a clear need for training the nurses by founding nursing colleges and providing them with the required knowledge on first aid, healing, preventing diseases and other such life saving techniques. The first official nurses were trained for saving many important lives in the army by the Congress. The wounded soldiers would be healed and tended to until they recovered totally. The threats posed by infections that spread during such conditions led to the chain of events that revolutionized the nursing practice. The key factor in this revolution was reform of the educational systems for nursing practice. In 1905, Annie Walburton Goodrich was elected the first president of the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses
Anna Maxwell was director to the first formal school of Nursing, The University of Colombia established in 1892. But the Yale is accredited to be the pioneer as it was the first autonomous nursing school in 1923. Today it still offers the oldest nursing program in nursing midwifery. Columbia University is the first organization to offer a master’s degree in a nursing clinical specialty course which was started in 1956. Also, Columbia was also the first nursing school to bear recognition of the World Health Organization. Established in 1923, and an academic opening in the year 1924, Yale also had a fair amount of success. The Nursing program of Yale required 2 year general college education as a prerequisite for students applying to the course which later was raised to undergraduate bachelor’s degree in 1934.
University of Michigan also started the nursing courses in the late 19th century, where 6 students graduated in the year of 1893. In 1919, the university offered a 5 year program in nursing that gave a bachelor of letters degree along with a nursing diploma. Later in 1944 another 5 year bachelor of science degree, first institute to offer a concurrent academic and nursing educational program, was started by the university with 2 years in the college of literature, arts and sciences and the latter 3 years in nursing program which was started in 1953.
