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248 unit 3 | Professional Issues CikguOnline
Contribution to 20th-Century Nursing ANA (in 1911), it continued to exclude men until
1930. One of the early acts of the organization was
Henderson is thought by many to be the most
to prevent men from practicing as nurses in the
important nursing figure in the 20th century. Her
military. The Army Nurse Corps, created in 1901,
colleagues refer to her as the 20th century Florence
barred men from serving as nurses (Brown, 1942;
Nightingale (ualberta.ca/~jmorris/nt/henderson.
Kalisch & Kalisch, 2004).
htm, 2000). She represents the essence and the
At the conclusion of the Korean War, the armed
spirit of nursing in the 20th century.
services again permitted men to serve as military
Men in Nursing nurses. Once men entered the military as nurses,
their numbers increased in civilian nursing as well.
Men are not new to nursing. Early Egyptian priests Nursing schools began to admit men, and the num-
who served the goddess Sekhmet practiced nurs- bers of men in nursing gradually increased. Today,
ing.The first nursing school in the world started in although still comparatively few,the number of men
India in about 250 B.C., and only men were consid- pursing nursing careers continues to increase. Men
ered “pure” enough for admission. are attaining graduate degrees and specialty certifi-
In the Byzantine Empire, nursing was practiced cation and continue to enhance nursing by resum-
primarily by men and was a separate profession ing their historical role as caring professionals.
(Kalisch & Kalisch,2004).During every plague that
swept through Europe, men risked their lives to Professional Organizations
provide nursing care. In 300 A.D. the Parabolani, a
group of men, started a hospital to care for victims ANA
of the Black Plague. Two hundred years later,
In 1896 delegates from 10 nursing schools’ alumnae
St. Benedict founded the Benedictine Nursing
associations met to organize a national professional
Order (Kalisch & Kalisch, 2004). Throughout the
association for nurses. The constitution and bylaws
Middle Ages, military, religious, and lay orders of
were completed in 1907, and the Nurses Associated
men continued to provide nursing care.
Alumnae of the United States and Canada was creat-
The Alexian Brothers, named after St. Alexis, a
ed.The name was changed in 1911 to the American
5th century nurse, were organized in the 1300s to
Nurses Association, which in 1982 became a federa-
provide nursing care to those affected by the Black
tion of constituent state nurses associations. In 1908,
Death. In 1863, the Alexian Brothers opened their
the Canadian Association of Nursing Education cre-
first hospital in the United States to educate men
ated the Canadian National Association of Trained
as nurses. The Mills School for Nursing and
Nurses, which became the Canadian Nurses
St. Vincent’s School for men were organized in
Association in 1924, with Mary Agnes Snively as its
New York in 1888. At that time, men did not
first president (Mansell & Dodd, 2005).
attend female nursing schools.
The purposes of the ANA are to:
Before the Civil War both male and female
slaves were employed as “nurses.” During the Civil 1. Foster high standards of nursing practice
War the Union used mainly female nurse volun- 2. Promote the rights of nurses in the workplace
teers, although some men also filled this responsi- 3. Project a positive and realistic view of nursing
bility.The poet Walt Whitman, for example, served 4. Lobby the Congress and regulatory agencies on
as a volunteer nurse in the Union Army. The health-care issues affecting nurses and the public
Confederate Army identified 30 men in each regi-
These purposes, reviewed during each biennial
ment to serve as military nurses. Charged with this
meeting by the House of Delegates, are unrestrict-
responsibility, these men tended to the ill on the
ed by consideration of age, color, creed, disability,
battlefields (Clay, 1928).
gender, health status, lifestyle, nationality, religion,
Modern nursing continued to develop as a pre-
race, or sexual orientation (ANA, 2007).
dominantly female profession, however, excluding
The goals of the Canadian Nurses Association
men from schools of nursing and the professional
are to:
organizations. The Nurses Associated Alumnae of
the United States and Canada held its first annual 1. Advance the discipline of nursing in the inter-
meeting in Baltimore in 1897. Later becoming the est of the public