The allegation that students in hospital schools of nursing were exploited has not been adequately supported by research. This examination of the financial relationship between Worcester Hahnemann Hospital (WHH) and Worcester Hahnemann Hospital School of Nursing (WHHSON), from the school's founding in 1900 until both hospital and school closed in 1989, begins to fill this gap in the history of nursing education. The study explores the effects of historical events on WHHSON while focusing on the development of the educational program and the financial relationship between school and hospital. Classic and contemporary writings about nursing and nursing education, including the work of Dock and Nutting (1907), Robb (1907), Goldmark (1923), Nutting (1926), Burgess (1934), Brown (1948), Stewart (1950), Kalisch and Kalisch (1995), and Donahue (1996) were sources of contextual material. The WHHSON archives, a rich source containing letters, brochures, annual reports, yearbooks, newspaper clippings and photographs, was the primary source of data on WHH and WHHSON. The study follows Stewart's (1950) chronology of nursing education until 1932. From 1933–1989 the chronology is based on national economic events which impacted nursing education. Chapters move from the general to the particular, beginning with contextual events, continuing with developments in nursing and nursing education, and finally relating this material to developments at WHH and WHHSON. The study found that the relationship between the students and the hospital was more complex than one of simple exploitation. While WHH depended on the cheap labor of student nurses to balance its budget in the early years, students received a good education, achieved entry into nursing practice, and fulfillment of basic human needs. The hospital consistently funded educational improvements mandated by accreditation standards for WHHSON. In later years these costs were covered by insurance reimbursements and by shifting educational expenses to students. The study concluded that not only one hospital, but the whole health care system in the Worcester area was subsidized by the labor of student nurses in a relationship characterized by dependency, enmeshment, symbiosis, and synergy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-3638 |
| Date | 01 January 2002 |
| Creators | Silveri, Audrey M |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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