Fall 1999 Vol. 12 No. I
UPDATE ON NURSE AsSOCIATES AT THE CENTER
JUUE FAIRMAN, PHD During my time at Penn. and in particular in my assoc iation with T he Center ojThc Study oJ The H istory of Nursing, J have been rortun te to have ext remely sup portive mentors. The gr up of chol ars at the History C nter aw me through my doctora l tudies and eventually on to my research a reer, the highpo int of which was the Novemher 1998 publication o f the book Critical Ca re Nursing . A History (Unive L ity Of Pennsy lvania Press). T he book traces the de velopment of critical care units in the I 950s, and exam ines the relationship between nursi ng, medicine, society, and technology. It exami ncs the in n uencc or architectural changes in hospitals. changes in nursing educat ion. relation ships be tween physicians and nU L s, nursing spec ializati on, and publi c expectations of health care on the o rganization 0 care in hospi tal . and rai es question s abou t contemporary health care deci sion-making. The book highlights the importance of expert nur ing car and of the ability of nur es to move beyond tradi tional. functionaJ roles and into sc ien tific based cli nical Lhinking. It els the stage f r a fun damental change in nursing pract ice that occurred in the I 950s. and created a milieu for the nurse practit ioner movement and contemporary collaborative practice. The book. coauthored with Joan Lynaugh. was an ex tension of my dissertation work , and has served as a springboard for later historical research dforts. 8 th Joan and r were very grati fied by the positive popular and pro fessional response LO the book. T he book was rev iewed in the Ph iladelphia Inquirer by Bernice Buresh, wh ich led t an interview on Radio Times with Marty Maas Coane, in spring 1999. There have been very favorable follow- up re vi w; in the Bulletin of the Hi. tory of Medicine, We tern Jour nal ofNursing Research, and Critical Car Nurse. A pap r bac k edi ti n is expected in fall of this year. Olher facets of the cri tical care resea rch have appeared io Advances in Nursing Science. Bulle tin of the History of Medicine, and have been presented at the Research sess ions of Sigma Theta Tau , The American A soc ialion of the History of Medic ine, and d1e A meri can Association of tbe H istory of Nu rsing.
My work in Titical care led to my ClUTent projec t on the de velopment of th nurse practit ioner movcment in the United States. Supported by fundi ng fro m the Pew Foundation , the Leadership Chair (held by Linda Aiken see photograph pg. 8), and a fell owship fro m the Uni ver sity of Virginia School of Nursing C ntc r fo r Nursi ng His toricallnquiry , 1 have been looki ng at change. in medicine and nursi ng education and practice that supported an expanded role fo r nursing. Although nurse Loretta Ford and physi cian Henry S ilver at the Univers ity of Colorado are cred ited with esta bli hing the fi rs t nurse practi tioner program in 1965, nu rses in the 1950s and 1960s were a lready working in exp nded roles over lapping those of physician:s. Examples UNIVERSITY OF PE NSYL VA.NIA include nurses workjng in critical care CHOOL OF NUR IN I units. dialysis units, public health , and Dr. Fairman will be indllcled illto the psychi atric/mental health setti ngs. American Academy of Nu rsing this Nurses' mo ernent into expanded roles November. and into new , more coli gial rel ation ' hip with physicians was supported by
Center for The Study of The History of Nursing
contillued on pag e 10