Overview

Led by the pioneering efforts of Florence Nightingale, the nursing profession arose during the middle and latter part of the 1800s. The establishment of a professional nursing corps in Europe and the United States dramatically impacted the medical profession and society in general, improving standards of care and providing an avenue for women to enter the work force.

Background

Although largely undocumented, some form of nursing has been practiced for thousands of years. Women's traditional roles of caregivers at home led naturally to an interest in medicine. Methods of nursing rose from two circles: one scientific, the other religious and social. Egyptians hired midwives to assist with childbirth. Emperors' wives tended to the ill in ancient Rome.

During the Middle Ages, crusaders left thousands of sick and injured behind in their quest to take back the Holy Land from...