The History of Nursing and the Educational Preparation of Nurses Research Paper - 1

The History of Nursing and the Educational Preparation of Nurses - Research Paper Example This statement prompted General George Washington to request from the Continental Congress for the supply of a matron to supervise the bedding and â€Å"the supply of one nurse for every ten patients. General Washington also requested that a matron is allotted to every hundred sick or wounded (Army, 2011). Many women volunteered to serve as nurses during the Civil War. Women served as nurses in both the Union and Confederate Armies. During the Civil war, Dorothea Lynde Dix was named Superintendent of Nurses for the Union forces. In the outbreak of the Spanish American War, Dr. Anita Newcombe McGee was named Supervisor in Charge of selecting the new female graduates to serve in the Armed Forces. These nurses were known as contract nurses. The Army Nurse Corps was formed on February 2, 1901, as a permanent unit in the US Army Medical Department. These nursing opportunities called for a high level of health care competency. In WWI, Bessie Smith was appointed to General John J. Pershing to oversee the nursing activities in the Army Medical Department. Bessie S. Smith formed the Army School of Nursing, which became an important relief resource during the Influenza pandemic of 1918 (Army, 2011). In 1916, a standard uniform was recommended for American nurses. This recommendation came from the American Nursing Association. These nursing uniforms became symbolic of American nurses. As the twentieth century continued, many nurses came to be identified by the blue uniform. Many American women were only able to find gainful employment as nurses in the beginning of the twentieth century (DeChesnay & Anderson, 2007). Many nurses were trained in university settings.