Chapter 01: A Brief History of the Professionalization of Nursing in the United States
Friberg: Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing, 7th Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Historically, women were considered the obvious choice for nursing sick patients, because:
a. caring for others was an extension of their homemaker role.
b. early nurses were nuns, so the public was used to women in nursing.
c. men, who had education, were reluctant to try nursing.
d. women were often at home anyway, so caregiving was easy.
ANS: A
Women’s domestic role (as homemakers and mothers) was naturally associated with the caregiving req
religious orders did play a role in health care, it was the domestic duties of women that set the stage for
nursing. Widespread education for men and women is a fairly new phenomenon and did not play a role
nursing. Women did not care for sick or injured strangers in their homes, so being at home was irreleva
2. Florence Nightingale’s views about trained nurses were most influenced by her:
a. experiences in wartime.
b. ideas about sanitation.
c. relationships with physicians.
d. view of education.
ANS: A
Nightingale’s experiences in wartime demonstrated to her that trained nurses were valuable in decreasi
among soldiers. Nightingale had revolutionary ideas about hospital sanitation, but these are not credite
trained nurses. Early trained nurses were taught to follow the directions of the physician; collegial relat
health care practice in Nightingale’s day. Nightingale’s views of education were influenced by her opin
nurses, not the other way around.
3. A nursing instructor explains to students that the major goal of the Society of Superintendents of Train
United States and Canada was to:
a. improve working conditions for students.
b. obtain legal recognition for the profession.
c. raise and standardize the training of nurses.
d. reverse discrimination in admissions policies.
ANS: C
The goals of the Society of Superintendents were “to promote fellowship of members, to establish and
standard of training, and to further the best interests of the nursing profession.” Students were expected
during their education in the hospital-based programs in existence at the time. Obtaining legal recognit
of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada, later renamed the American Nurs
Discrimination in nursing existed well into the civil rights era and beyond, with men and women of col
from admission and employment.
4. Today’s nurse understands that legal recognition for nurses was imperative to:
a. allow nurses to expand beyond the hospital setting.
b. lobby for better wages and working conditions.
c. protect the public from untrained nurses.
d. provide hospitals with accreditation requirements.
ANS: C
The goal of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (renamed the American
was to protect the public from untrained nurses by securing legal recognition for trained nurses. Gradu
worked as private duty nurses up through the early 20th century. Wages remained low, and working co
arduous in hospitals (and seasonal for private duty nurses) until hospitals began hiring more graduate n
accreditation is a recent phenomenon, unattached to legal recognition for nurses.
5. Which patient would most likely have been cared for in a hospital in the 19th to early 20th century?
Friberg: Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing, 7th Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Historically, women were considered the obvious choice for nursing sick patients, because:
a. caring for others was an extension of their homemaker role.
b. early nurses were nuns, so the public was used to women in nursing.
c. men, who had education, were reluctant to try nursing.
d. women were often at home anyway, so caregiving was easy.
ANS: A
Women’s domestic role (as homemakers and mothers) was naturally associated with the caregiving req
religious orders did play a role in health care, it was the domestic duties of women that set the stage for
nursing. Widespread education for men and women is a fairly new phenomenon and did not play a role
nursing. Women did not care for sick or injured strangers in their homes, so being at home was irreleva
2. Florence Nightingale’s views about trained nurses were most influenced by her:
a. experiences in wartime.
b. ideas about sanitation.
c. relationships with physicians.
d. view of education.
ANS: A
Nightingale’s experiences in wartime demonstrated to her that trained nurses were valuable in decreasi
among soldiers. Nightingale had revolutionary ideas about hospital sanitation, but these are not credite
trained nurses. Early trained nurses were taught to follow the directions of the physician; collegial relat
health care practice in Nightingale’s day. Nightingale’s views of education were influenced by her opin
nurses, not the other way around.
3. A nursing instructor explains to students that the major goal of the Society of Superintendents of Train
United States and Canada was to:
a. improve working conditions for students.
b. obtain legal recognition for the profession.
c. raise and standardize the training of nurses.
d. reverse discrimination in admissions policies.
ANS: C
The goals of the Society of Superintendents were “to promote fellowship of members, to establish and
standard of training, and to further the best interests of the nursing profession.” Students were expected
during their education in the hospital-based programs in existence at the time. Obtaining legal recognit
of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada, later renamed the American Nurs
Discrimination in nursing existed well into the civil rights era and beyond, with men and women of col
from admission and employment.
4. Today’s nurse understands that legal recognition for nurses was imperative to:
a. allow nurses to expand beyond the hospital setting.
b. lobby for better wages and working conditions.
c. protect the public from untrained nurses.
d. provide hospitals with accreditation requirements.
ANS: C
The goal of the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (renamed the American
was to protect the public from untrained nurses by securing legal recognition for trained nurses. Gradu
worked as private duty nurses up through the early 20th century. Wages remained low, and working co
arduous in hospitals (and seasonal for private duty nurses) until hospitals began hiring more graduate n
accreditation is a recent phenomenon, unattached to legal recognition for nurses.
5. Which patient would most likely have been cared for in a hospital in the 19th to early 20th century?
