Nurses in residence: the history of residential nursing schools

Nursing is now considered a profession and respected as one, but reaching this level of regard has involved over a hundred years of struggle. The art of administering to the sick and wounded, to the dying, and to those bearing children has been known since the beginning of time. Religious orders did give succor to the ill and less fortunate, but the idea of bringing together in a planned program a group to fill these needs is relatively new and can be attributed to Florence Nightingale.

The need for residence living evolved as a result of long working hours which commenced early in the day, inappropriate living conditions outside most institutions and poor transportation...

Hospitals in Canada first appeared in Upper and Lower Canada and, with the establishment of transportation routes and movement of population, started to develop in the west. Early settlers followed waterways or wagon trails, but the greatest movement of people came with the building of the railway. As the population in the west increased, the need for health care became evident. Nurses, mostly graduates of Eastern hospitals, influenced the new hospital schools of nursing by copying residence discipline, programs of study and uniforms after their own schools.

In 1883, railways brought the first great infusion of workers and immigrants to Medicine Hat as the Canadian Pacific Railway and later the Canadian Northern Railway continued west. Individuals who had an aptitude for caring for the sick and pregnant women frequently did this in their homes, which fostered the development of the cottage hospital. Pest or isolation houses developed in the same way. A need arose for more skilled personnel and a home for patients of the horse and buggy doctor grew dependent upon the finances of the area. Larger centres attracted more professional people, many who belonged to Religious orders. Calgary and Edmonton soon had well-constructed serviceable institutions (hospitals) with established schools of nursing as a cheap way to staff the hospital.

In the early days hospitals recruited older single women, in the twenty-five to thirty-five year age bracket who might then have been called 'spinsters', and who desperately needed to have some way to care for themselves. Discipline was strict and the work demanded long hours, frequently fourteen-sixteen hours a day everyday of the week. Attrition was high and many students succumbed to illness. Students were confined to the hospital and residence by work and by their tired bodies. Any deviation from their rigorous routine was suppressed by their supervisors. If they were allowed to go home, there was a fear on the part of supervisors that they might not return.

Initially educational requirements were only that a potential student could write English. That a candidate was of high moral reputation was attested to by upstanding people in the community, one usually a church leader. Individual students were required to be church goers.

During the hundred years that resident schools of nursing existed in Alberta, several social influences have helped or hindered the growth of nursing in the province. Certainly the population explosion that occurred early in the twentieth century brought the natural and human resources of the west into predominance. Immigration increased, encouraged by the Homestead Act and the lure of 'free land.' Real estate boomed and then fell. World War I took young men and returned invalids. Young nurses joined the war cause, leaving at home a demand and need for student nurses. Young women responded to the call to military duty by entering hospital training programs. Nurses were again needed during the influenza outbreak in 1918-1919 and women responded. The 1929 depression was a bonus for hospitals and their need for cheap labour. Again women looked to the hospitals for a refuge, board and room in return for work. World War II called graduate nurses from hospitals and again young women responded by entering training programs. The war brought new technology and a subtle change in attitudes. Women had proved their worth and they found a new sense of value, having worked alongside men as part of the war effort. The money they earned gave them a further sense of value and freedom. Severe discipline in schools of nursing was no longer tolerated. Threats of student nurse strikes for better treatment resulted in relaxing of the rules and legislation changed working hours. Unions improved working conditions and salaries. A nurse could speak up against injustices without the fear of dismissal. Education programs also changed. Schools of nursing now required a higher level of high school education, until entrance requirements were the same as those for University. In smaller communities nursing schools closed due to lack of qualified instructors and declining enrollments. City hospitals attracted more students, and then made way for a different mode of delivery for nursing education in College diploma programs, and University baccalaureate programs. Students lived out of residence, Hospital based schools of nursing closed and the residences were retired."