Handling the Sick: The Women of St. Luke's and the Nature of Nursing, 1892-1937

by TOM OLSON, EILEEN WALSH

Overview

Handling the Sick is the story of 838 women who entered St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses, St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1892 to 1937. Their story addresses a fundamental question about nursing that has yet to be answered: is nursing a craft or a profession? It also addresses the colliding visions of nursing factions that for more than a century have disagreed on the inherent traits and formal preparation a nurse has needed. The women of St. Luke's were engaged in the most practical of all occupations open to women, a rare one in which their strength, experience, and skill were prized above all else. They firmly believed that the key to success in nursing was apprenticeship training. Apprenticeship, not schooling, was the cornerstone on which all else rested. This study unites the opposing visions of those who led nursing toward professional status and those who saw it as a craft. Physicality, strength of will, an abiding emphasis on practicality, and a hierarchy based on a deep pride in craft skills have been essential elements of nursing. Nursing can look to its complex history to develop an integrated model of nursing, one drawing on both academic training and the immediate realities involved in "handling the sick."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814209592
Publisher:	Ohio State University Press
Publication date:	03/28/2004
Series:	WOMEN & HEALTH C&S PERSPECTIVE Series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	225
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations
	List of Tables
	List of Abbreviations
	Preface
	Acknowledgments
1	Introduction: The Nature of Writing	1
2	First Impressions	9
3	Ready for Work	39
4	The Limits of Duty	59
5	Laying Claim to Caring	78
6	Grounds for Dismissal, Reasons to Leave	95
7	Lasting Impressions	121
8	Reclaiming the Past, Remaking the Future	143
	Notes	157
	Bibliography	205
	Index	223