Who's in Charge Here? The General Hospital School of Nursing, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1903-30

• Published in: Canadian Bulletin of Medical History
• Main Author: White, Linda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1994
• Subjects: General Medicine; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cbmh.11.1.91; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cbmh.11.1.91

This essay examines the effect of the political economy of the General Hospital, St. John’s, Newfoundland, on the development of the General Hospital School of Nursing from 1903 to 1930. The General Hospital was the only government-funded hospital in Newfoundland providing health care for the entire colony of 124,000 people. The School of Nursing was the only nurses’ training program in Newfoundland until 1929 when a second school opened. Two conflicting personalities who played an important role in the development of nursing at these institutions were Mgry Southcott, Superintendent of Nurses from 1903 to 1916, and Lawrence Keegan, Medical Superintendent of the hospital. The resulting tension between these two people led to a major crisis at the hospital in 1914 with the government instigatin a Royal Commission to examine the struggle between the nurses and the a d ministration (doctors and government officials) over who had the ower and authority to determine the nurses' role and status within the hospita p . After a year of investigation, the Royal Commission agreed with Keegan's view and subsequently organized the hospital along new lines. Southcott was fired and a new, more compliant nurse put in her place. The second period, 1916 to 1930, saw the reconunendations of the Royal Commission implemented, including establishment of a Board of Covemors to run the hospital on a more businesslike footing.