A History of Apprenticeship Nurse Training in Ireland: Bright Faces and Neat Dresses

Based on new research using previously unpublished sources, this compelling text is an in-depth study of the history of nurse education in Ireland, presenting a new authoritative account of the history of the traditional system of training in Ireland. Introduced as part of the reforms of hospital nursing in the late nineteenth century, apprenticeship nurse training was a vocational extension of secondary education. Residing outside the mainstream of higher educational provision it provided nurses with the knowledge and technical skills for sick nursing, whilst also functioning to socialise them into the role of hospital worker and introduce to them nursing’s value systems. This method of training provided a ready supply of skilled, efficient, inexpensive and loyal workers. In a chronological period spanning over a century, the book traces the development of modern nursing in Ireland, bringing the hidden role of nurses and nursing to the fore. It analyzes and describes the development, provision and gradual reform of hospital nursing, taking into account the social, cultural, political and economic factors that led to its establishment, its continuance, and eventual demise. Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of illustrations 9 Foreword 11 Preface 12 Acknowledgements 14 Introduction 17 1 Charity, medical relief and precursors of the modern nurse 21 2 ‘Nursing arrangements’ 36 3 Hospitals in transition 55 4 ‘Exemplary conduct and character’ 77 5 Professional regulation and the General Nursing Council for Ireland 98 6 ‘Knowledge of her work’ 115 7 The Nursing Board and the training experience, 1950-1979 133 8 From the hospital to the academy, 1980-1994 154 9 Conclusions 168 Notes 173 References 196 Index 208 Charity, medical relief, and precursors of the modern nurse Nursing arrangements : nursing policy in Dublin in the late nineteenth century Hospitals in transition : two case studies of nursing reform Exemplary conduct and character : the lady nurses of the Dublin hospitals Professional regulation and the general nursing council for Ireland Knowledge of her work : the curriculum, c. 1899-1949 The nursing board and the training experience, 1950-1979 From the hospital to the academy, 1980-1994. "In Ireland, as in many other countries, the education and training of nurses has undergone enormous change and has moved from what was a working apprenticeship towards a college-based professional education. A History of Apprenticeship Nurse Training in Ireland traces the progress of nurse education and training, presenting a new authoritative and scholarly account of the history of the traditional system of apprenticeship nurse training in Ireland."--BOOK JACKET Analyses and describes the development, provision and gradual reform of hospital nursing, taking into account the social, cultural, political and economic factors that led to its establishment, its continuance, and demise. In a chronological period spanning over a century, this book also traces the development of modern nursing in Ireland