Frederick entered the School of Nursing in 1916. She lived in an Iowa City boarding house until she was "capped," and then moved into Eastlawn, the nurses' dormitory. Upon graduation in 1921, she received her State of Iowa Nursing Certificate and continued to work at the University of Iowa Hospitals in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. When Frederick left to marry Hugh Allen Dunlap in 1926, she was nursing
supervisor in that department. Her daughter-in-law, Gloria Dunlap, recalls:

78. Ruth (Frederick) Dunlap, courtesy Gloria Dunlap

Throughout the years she kept abreast of new information in the medical field and always kept her license current. After her family was reared, she returned to work as a private duty nurse, working occasionally at the request of family friends. In later years she worked quite frequently at both University and Mercy Hospitals.

She nursed her husband's invalid mother at home for nearly two years, until her mother-in-law's death. She nursed her eldest daughter through rheumatic fever and her eldest son through a severe accident. Her husband was an architectural engineer in the construction business, and had more than one accident that required immediate first aid and medical care. She nursed her children through all the usual contagious children's diseases. Children with measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, and scarlet fever were quarantined by the county public health officer in those days.

She was in great demand as a private duty nurse. Her warm personality and kind heart endeared her to her patients; she always seemed to make them feel better. She specialed [sic] my uncle after his surgery-he wouldn't have anyone else!