A Century of Caring: The Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, 1850-1950
College of Nursing
Introduction
| Nursing and medicine are the cornerstones of health care. Physicians determine the proper course of treatment in a given situation, and nurses provide the care and attention necessary for the treatment to be fully effective. Traditionally associated with women and the home, nursing has achieved recognition equal that of other healthcare fields only in recent decades.
Florence Nightingale opened the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in 1860, the first such school in the world. In the early twentieth century, nursing developed its first forms of specialization, ward management and teaching. It was not until the 1930s, however, that serious study of nursing practice made specialization in various aspects of patient care possible. These efforts were slowed considerably by World War II, and it was not until 1956 that clinical nursing specialization was formally recognized. |
69. Diet kitchen, courtesy of the Heritage Room Collection, University of Iowa College of Nursing |
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