Image and Voice of Nursing
Mary Wilcox
Thomas Edison State College
Leadership and Management in Nursing
NUR428
Mary Wombwell
November 27, 2011

Historical image of nursing
Florence Nightingale is known to many as the historical image of nursing. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War where she tended to wounded soldiers rounding at night holding a small lamp. Nightingale was a strong-willed advocate for the field of nursing. Her advocacy was for the” improvement of care and conditions” (MacQueen, 2007, p. 31) for patients making significant achievements during her career. In the western world for centuries, nursing as an “organized institution” (Buresh & Gordon, 2006, p. 179) was provided through Christian religious institutions. In religious sects, nurses were socialized to sacrifice every shred of their identity being “obedient members of an anonymous mass” (Gordon, 2006, p. 2). Religious nurses were taught not to claim credit for their work and accomplishments. Instead, they were educated to view themselves as divine instruments who willingly assigned credit to “God, the Bishop, the Abbot, or the Mother Superior” (Gordon, 2006, p. 3) for their accomplishments. Often, nurses were not viewed by their sex, not allowed to marry, and were sheltered in or near the hospitals in dormitories. In the 19th century, religious and social reformers such as Florence Nightingale adapted the religious template to help women who needed to find purposeful paid work (Gordon, 2006). Scientifically oriented doctors were moving into hospitals in greater numbers and wanted trained nurses who would be their servants. During this era, nursing remained feminized. Nurses lacked political, legal, economic, and social power. In the 19th century, nursing was constructed as “self-sacrificing, anonymous, devotional, and altruistic work”