Nursing’s orphans: How the system of nursing education in Australia is undermining professional identity
Wendy Madsen
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health Central Queensland University Bundaberg QLD
Margaret McAllister
School of Health and Sport Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore QLD
Judith Godden
Department of History, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW
Jennene Greenhill
Clinical Education, Rural Clinical School, Flinders University Adelaide SA
Rachel Reed
School of Health and Sport Science, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore QLD
PP: 9 - 18
Abstract
This paper draws on the results of a national study of approaches to teaching nursing's history in Australia. We argue that the neglect of history learning within undergraduate nursing and midwifery education is undermining the development in students of a strong professional nursing identity.
The data in our study shows that instead of proud, informed professionals, we are at risk of producing a generation of professional orphans - unaware of who they are and where they've come from, unaware of reasons underlying cultural practices within the profession, lacking in vision for the future, insecure about their capacity to contribute to future directions, and not feeling part of something bigger and more enduring.
Keywords
nursing, history, professional identity, curriculum, retention, Australia
References
Aiken L, Sean P, Clarke S, Sloan D, Sochalski J and Silber J (2002) Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of the American Medical Association 288(16): 1987-1993.
Bellack J (2004) Changing nurse education: creating our tipping point, Journal of Nursing Education 43(8): 339-340.
Borsay A (2009) Nursing history: an irrelevance for nursing practice? Nursing History Review 17: 14-27.
Brennan S (2006) Contradictory stories. An oral history of a group of 1960s nursing students. Launceston TAS: University of Tasmania.
Chambers L and Subera PA (1997) Nursing history as a tool for development of a professional identity within nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education 36(9): 432-433.
Davis SK (1995) A mandate for nursing history in nursing curriculum, Journal of Nursing Education 34(9): 427-430.
Gavin N (1989) The missing link. Nursing Times 85(1): 62-63.
Geister J (1926) Hearsay and facts in private duty. The Australasian Nurses' Journal 24(12): 556-566.
Gregory H (1988) A tradition of care. A history of nursing at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Brisbane QLD: Boolarong Publications.
Hodges HF, Keeley AC and Troyan PJ (2008) Professional resilience in Baccalaureate-prepared acute care nurses: first steps, Nursing Education Perspectives 29(2): 80-89.
Horton K, Tschudin V and Forget A (2007) The value of nursing: A literature review. Nursing Ethics 14(6): 716-740.
Kirby S (1998) Teaching nursing history: The Redwood experience. Nurse Education Today 18: 310-316.
Lait ME (2000) The place of nursing history in an undergraduate curriculum. Nurse Education Today 20: 395-400.
Lewenson SB (2004) Integrating nursing history into the curriculum. Journal of Professional Nursing 20(6): 374-380.
Madsen W (2008) Teaching history to nurses: Will this make me a better nurse. Nurse Education Today 28(5): 524-529.
Matthews G (1996) An Australian son. Sydney NSW: Random House.
McAllister M, Madsen W, Godden J, Greenhill J and Reed R (2008) Moving forward by looking back: An exploration of history teaching in nursing curricula across Australia. Final Report. Maroochydore QLD: University of the Sunshine Coast.
McAllister M, Madsen W, Godden J, Greenhill J and Reed R (under review) Teaching nursing's history: A national survey of Australian Schools of Nursing and Midwifery, 2007-2008.
McKenzie B (2005) Simulations, sources and the history survey course: Making the internet matter. Teaching History 30(2): 82-90.
Miers M (2002) Nurse education in higher education: Understanding cultural barriers to progress. Nurse Education Today 22: 212-219.
Nelson S and Gordon S (2004) The rhetoric of rupture: Nursing as a practice with a history? Nursing Outlook 52(2): 255-261.
Ogren KE (1994) The risk of not understanding nursing history, Holistic Nurse Practitioner 8(2): 8-14.
Sheehan M (2005) A profession's pathway. Nursing at St Vincent's since 1893. Melbourne VIC: Arcadia.
Skovholt TM (2001) The resilient practitioner: Burnout prevention and self-care strategies for counsellors, therapists, teachers and health professionals. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Strachan G (1996) Labour of love. The history of the Nurses' Association in Queensland 1860-1950. St Leonards NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Thorne SE (2006) Nursing education: key issues in the 21st century. Nurse Education Today 26: 614-621.
Walker K and Holmes CA (2008) The 'order of things': Tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education. Contemporary Nurse 30(2): 106-118.
eContent Home
