Different Era in the History of Nursing

From Dark Ages to Renaissance

(THE MIDDLE AGES)

During the late middle Ages (1000-1500) -the crowding and poor sanitation in the monasteries nurses went into the community. During this era hospitals were built and the number of medical schools increases. Between 1500 and 1860 (A.D.) -the Renaissance all affected nursing. As nursing was not valued as an intellectual endeavor it lost much of its economic support and social status. The nursing conditions were at their worst and have been called the dark period of nursing. New hospitals had been built but quickly became places of horror as unsanitary conditions caused them to be a source of epidemics and disease. In 1545 -the council of Trent decreed that every community of women should live in strict enclosure. It took over 200 years of resistance for women to overcome this decree. The nursing sisters of France made little or no resistance such that their professional standards deteriorated. In the late 1500's - several groups began nursing and tending the sick, poor, and dying. These groups were St. Francis de Sales, the Order of the Visitation of Mary, St. Vincent DePaul, the Sisters of Charity, Dames de Charite', Louise le Gras, Brothers Hospitallers of St. John, Albuquerque, Order of St. Augustine, St. Camillas De Lellis, Jeanne Biscot, and the Nursing Sisters of St. Joseph de La Fleche. Many of these people came from rich and influential families. The dark ages of nursing lasted for three centuries until the mid 2800's when Florence Nightingale brought about a change.

Nursing during the Medieval Ages

Either done by charitable religious orders or by the poor who worked for the rich. Nuns or sisters in a cloistered order made up the nursing staff in hospitals.
Late Middle Ages Repression of women and cloistered orders by the