NURSES, TRAINING OF. At the end of the fourth century. when the temples of 2Eseulapius, Ilygeia. and Semple were closed, the sick poor formerly housed in these temples were turned adrift. Christian monasteries and temples were opened to and conventual orders arose whose office was to provide for the sick. In very early times there was a corporation of matrons and elderly women in England who were employed in obstetrics, at that time forbidden to men. The eleventh century saw the beginning of the founding of hospitals, many of which were rendered necessary by the Crusades. The hos pitalers were assisted by various bodies of women, in the dearth of physicians. In the latter part of the twelfth century Hildegarde, Abbess of Rupertsherg, organized a school of nurses for service in the hospitals. From these beginnings grew the modern system of training nurses for charitable hospital work, for charita ble work among the sick poor in their homes, and later for assistance to the sick rich for proper remuneration. In 1840 'Mrs. Fry's nursing sis ters' composed an organization which cared for the outcasts of London society. Florence Night ingale (q.v.) gave the greatest impetus to the movement toward securing efficient training for nurses, after her return to London in 1853, upon the completion of an inspection of hospitals all over Europe. In 1872 the Bellevue Training School, New York City, sent out the first class of trained nurses graduated in this country.
The course of study for nurses tinder training has become lengthened during the past ten years. In some small towns in the United States the course at a local hospital may be completed in a year, in others in eighteen months. In New York and Philadelphia• the course extends in a few schools over two years' time; in most over three vears' time. An applicant is received into the scho(d for a period of two months on probation. During this period applicants ceive their lamrd and lodging at the training school without charge, and serve without remu neration, and their education, physical strength, endurance, adaptability, powers of observation, and judgment are tested. Should they prove
acceptable. they are required to sign an agree ment for the remainder of the term of three (or two) years. to obey regulations, and to re 111;1111 in the school till the term has ended. Pupils reside in the hospital or in the training-school building, and assist in various departments. They wear a uniform when mu duty. No charge is made for instruction. The pupils receive board, lodging, and laundering of clothing, and a certain amount of money for the purchase of text books and uniforms• and for incidental expenses. The instruction is given by the physi chins and surgeons of the visiting and resident btatts of the hospital, the superintendent, and the head nurses, and (-filers anatomy and physi ology, and all departments of nursing, including cooking of proper food and delicacies, and fre quently massage, obstetrics. and the care of insane as well as alcoholic- patients. lit some institutions there is a regulation under which nurses are seat out to nurse in families completing their course of study as a test of fitness.
Perhaps the most prominent training schools in the United States are the following: Bellevue, Presbyterian Hospital. New York llospital, and Alount Sinai Hospital. in New York City; Massa elmsetts General Hospital. in Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia Hospital and Pennsylvania Hos pital, in Philadelphia. Pa.; Johns Hopkins Hos pital, in Baltimore, 1‘1(1.; and Illinois Training School, Chicago. 111. Consult Nightingale. Notes on NursinY 1861)) : Nurse and Patient (Philadelphia, 1877) ; Hampton. Nursing (Philadelphia. 1893).