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The earliest of the nursing practices were always
combined with some sort of religious practice. Nursing in the fourth
century Christian era was still in raw form, and was based on comfort
instead of medical treatment. The era covered the deaconesses, the
hospitallers, and the sisters of mercy before entering the dark ages.
The Deaconesses were women, who were required to be
unmarried or widowed, were often widows or daughters of Roman officials, and
thus had breeding, culture, wealth, and position. These dedicated young
women practiced "works of mercy" that included feeding the hungry, clothing
the naked, visiting the imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, caring for the
sick, and burying the dead. The deaconesses were other early counterparts
to the community health nurses of today. Then they entered homes to
distribute food and medicine they carried a basket, which would later become
the visiting nurse bag of today. Phoebe is often referred to as the first
deaconess and the first visiting nurse. She carried Paul's letters and
cared for him and many others.
The hospitallers of St. John was a military nursing
order that evolved as a result of the Crusaders. It was organized to staff
two hospitals that were located in Jerusalem. The Knights, organized as a
nursing order, at times were required to defend the hospital and its
patients. For this reason they wore a suit of armor under their habits. On
the habit was the Maltese cross. The same cross was to be used later on a
badge designed for the Nightingale School. The badge became the forerunner
of the nursing pin, as we know it today. The symbolism of the pin dates
back to the 16th century, when the privilege of wearing a coat of arms was
limited to noblemen who served their kings with distinction. As centuries
passed the privilege was extended to schools and to craft guilds, and the
symbols of wisdom, strength, courage, and faith appeared on buttons, badges
and shields.
The Sisters of Mercy, a Roman Catholic nursing order
established by Catherine McAuley, who used a large inheritance to build a
refuge for the sick and homeless. The Sisters Of Mercy were primarily
composed of women who were responsible for nursing victims of the cholera
epidemic.
The formation then occurred. This was regarded as
a religious movement that started with the work of Martin Luther, began in
Germany in 1517. The Protestant Church, which stood for freedom of religion
and thought, did not allow much freedom for women. Once revered by the
church and encouraged toward charitable activities, women of the Reformation
were deemed subordinate to men. Their role was within the confines of the
home; their duties were those of bearing children and caring for the home.
Work in hospitals no longer appealed to women of high
birth. Hospital care was relegated to "uncommon" women, a group comprising
prisoners, prostitutes, and drunks. Women faced with earning their own
living were forced to work as domestic servants; and although nursing was
considered a domestic service, it was not a desirable one. Pay was poor;
the hours were long; the work was strenuous. The nurse was considered the
most menial of servants. Thus developed the "Dark Ages of Nursing."
In the dark ages of nursing, hospitals were unsanitary
places, dark and foreboding. Women who were frequently described as drunk,
heartless, and immoral provided nursing. They were expected to carry out
the housework of the hospital, wash the laundry, and do all the cleaning for
very little reward. No training was required of nurses, and it was not
unusual for a nurse to work from 12 to 40 consecutive hours. |
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