Chapter 01: A Brief History of Professional Nursing in the United States

Chapter 01: A Brief History of Professional Nursing in the United States

 

Complete Chapter Questions With Answers

 

Sample Questions Are Posted Below

 

MULTIPLE CHOICE

 

1. Historically, women were considered the obvious choice for nursing sick patients, because

a.	caring for others was an extension of their homemaker role.
b.	early nurses were nuns, so the public was used to women in nursing.
c.	men, who had education, were reluctant to try nursing.
d.	women were often at home anyway, so caregiving was easy.

 

 

ANS:  A

Women’s domestic role (as homemakers and mothers) was naturally associated with the caregiving required in nursing. Although religious orders did play a role in health care, it was the domestic duties of women that set the stage for their involvement in nursing.

Widespread education for men and women is a fairly new phenomenon and did not play a role in the early history of nursing. Women did not care for sick or injured strangers in their homes, so being at home was irrelevant.

 

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Remember            REF:   3

TOP:   Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning                              MSC:  NCLEX Client Needs: N/A

 

2. Florence Nightingale’s views about trained nurses were most influenced by her

a.	experiences in wartime.
b.	ideas about sanitation.
c.	relationships with physicians.
d.	view of education.

 

 

ANS:  A

Nightingale’s experiences in wartime demonstrated to her that trained nurses were valuable in decreasing morbidity and mortality among soldiers. Nightingale had revolutionary ideas about hospital sanitation, but these are not credited with her advocacy of using trained nurses.

Early trained nurses were taught to follow the directions of the physician; collegial relationships were not a part of health care practice in Nightingale’s day.

Nightingale’s views of education were influenced by her opinion on the value of trained nurses, not the other way around.

 

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Remember            REF:   3

TOP:   Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning                              MSC:  NCLEX Client Needs: N/A

 

3. A nursing instructor explains to students that the major goal of the Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses of the United States and Canada was to

a.	improve working conditions for students.
b.	obtain legal recognition for the profession.
c.	raise and standardize the training of nurses.
d.	reverse discrimination in admissions policies.

 

 

ANS:  C

The goals of the Society of Superintendents were “to promote fellowship of members, to establish and maintain a universal standard of training, and to further the best interests of the nursing profession.” Students were expected to work in apprenticeships during their education in the hospital-based programs in existence at the time.

Obtaining legal recognition for nurses was the goal of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada, later renamed the American Nurses Association.

Discrimination in nursing existed well into the civil rights era and beyond, with men and women of color routinely being banned from admission and employment.

 

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Understand            REF:   4

TOP:   Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning                              MSC:  NCLEX Client Needs: N/A

 

4. Today’s nurse understands that legal recognition for nurses was imperative to

a.	allow nurses to expand beyond the hospital setting.
b.	lobby for better wages and working conditions.
c.	protect the public from untrained nurses.
d.	provide hospitals with accreditation requirements.

 

 

ANS:  C

The goal of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (renamed the American Nurses Association in 1912) was to protect the public from untrained nurses by securing legal recognition for trained nurses.

Graduate nurses predominantly worked as private duty nurses up through the early 20th century.

Wages remained low, and working conditions remained long and arduous in hospitals (and seasonal for private duty nurses) until hospitals began hiring more graduate nurses in the 1930s.

Hospital accreditation is a recent phenomenon, unattached to legal recognition for nurses.

 

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Remember            REF:   4

TOP:   Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning                              MSC:  NCLEX Client Needs: N/A