-
Mary Ann Bickerdyke
At the onset of the Civil War, she worked as a nurse in a field hospital and was later named by General Ulysses S. Grant as chief of nursing. She became known as the best Civil War nurse, built over 300 hospitals, and cared for the wounded on over 19 battlefields including the Battle of Shiloh. After the war, she worked for the Salvation Army, became an attourney and assisted Veterans with legal matters. -
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix was not formally trained as a nurse, but she offered her services to the Union Army during the Civil War in 1861. The Secretary of War appointed Dorothea as the Superintendent of the Union Army Nurses. Dorothea recruited 2000 women into the Army as Nurses during this time. -
Linda Richards
Linda was inspired by deaths that were close to her and decided to more to Boston, Massachusetts to become a nurse. Her first job was at Boston City Hospital, but she received little training and left just three months later. Linda enjoyed the experience at the hospital and in 1872 she became the first student to enroll in a inaugural class, and the first student to be in the American Nurses Training School. -
Clara Barton
Clara Barton went to Geneva, Switzerland in hopes of improving her poor health. While there, she became familier with the International Red Cross. When she returned to the United States, she formed the American branch of the Red Cross in 1881 where she served as president and brought about the United States aggreement to the Geneva Convention. -
Isabel Hampton Robb
In 1883, Isabel and her classmates moved to Rome to serve as nurses, when they returned, Isabel became Superintendent of Nursing at Illinois Training School for Nurses.Isabel changed the way nursing was taught by abolishing student nurses practicing doing private duty nursing, made the curriculum more broadened, and the affiliation with other hospitals. She established the first grading policy in nursing school and wrote a text called, Nursing: Its Principles and Practice. -
Lavinia Dock
Lavinia Dock trained as a nurse at New York City's Bellevue Hospital. In 1890, after her service as a visiting nurse, Lavinia wrote a manual of drugs for nurses called Materia Medica for Nurses. -
Lillian Wald
Lillian Wald's life was commited to helping people. In 1893, Lillian graduated from New York Hospital Training School for Nurses and wanted to help the poor living conditions of the struggling population and started the Visiting Nurse Service. In public health she worked with womans rights and welfare of children. -
Mary Adelaide Nutting
Mary Adelaide Nutting was the world's first professor of nursing of Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City in 1907. She along with co-author Lavinia Dock wrote A Sound Economic Basis for Nursing, which was the first two volumes of the History of Nursing. -
Mary Eliza Mahoney
Mary Eliza Mahoney was the co-founder of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, which merged with the American Nurses Association (ANA) in 1951. She worked for years earning a distinguished reputaion as a private care nurse. Mary Eliza Mahoney became the first African American trained nurse in the United States. -
Margaret Sanger
Margaret felt strongly about womens health. In 1912, she invented, and distributed birth control information. Because of the forbidden distribution of these materials, she lobbied for change resulting in advancements including the first birth control clinic in the United States (1916), and laws giving women the right to birth control. -
Annie Goodrich
In 1923, Annie Goodrich became the first woman as a Dean at Yale University School of Nursing. Annie's main agenda as dean for students included educational clinical experience, an integrated curriculum dealing with preventive and curative care, and a case assignment teaching method. -
Mary Breckinridge
In 1925, Mary Breckinridge established the Frontier Nursing Service which provided health care for rural citizens of the United States. FNS established the American Association of Nurse Midwives, and American School of Midwifery. After this establishment, the midwifery system improved the maternal mortality rate and womens health through rural health care delivery. -
Ida V. Moffett
In 1946, the govenor of Alabama appointed Ida to the States Board of Nurses' Examiners and Registration. She helped establish state accreditaion for Alabama's first four-year collegiate nursing program, such as The University of Alabama. -
Lillian Holland Harvey
In 1948, Lillian Holland Harvey became the Dean of the School of Nursing at Tuskegee Institute University. That same year, the State of Alabama had its first Baccalaureate of Nursing Program which was started under Lillians leadership. -
Hildegard Peplau
Hildegard Peplau wrote a book called Interpersonal Relations in Nursing and it was finally published in 1952. Hildegard's book discusses the nursing process as it is related to the relationship between nurse and patient. -
Dorothea Orem
In 1959, Dorothea Orem created the Orem Model of Nursing. The Orem Model of Nursing is also know as the 'Self Care' Model of Nursing with a philosophy that all "patients wish to care for themselves". In simplest terms, the model states that nurses have to provide care for patients who cannot take care fo themselves anymore. -
Martha Rogers
After a long journey of earning various nursing degrees, Martha was appointed head of the nursing devision of New York University. After editing the Nursing Science Journal, she published her book, An Introducion to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing in 1970. -
Madeleine Leininger
Madeleine is considered as "Margaret Mead of Nursing". In 1974, she was the founder of Transcultural Nursing, which was a program she created at The University of Washington. She also founded the Journal of Transcultural Nursing which supported research about the Transcultural Nursing Society. -
Jean Watson
Jean Watson was a former Dean and a distinguished Professor of Nursing at The University of Colorado's Nursing School. In 1979, Jean founded the Center for Human Caring in Colorado. Jean also published the Philosphy and Science of Caring. -
Virginia Henderson
Virginia Henerson was presented with the first Christianne Reimann Prize by the International Council of Nurses in 1985. She is also known for the famous definition of nursing, "The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge.
