The General Hospital School of Nursing, St. John's, Newfoundland 1903-1930

• Main Author: White, Linda
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1992
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/5559/; https://research.library.mun.ca/5559/1/White_Linda.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/5559/3/White_Linda.pdf

This thesis examines the effect of the political economy of the General Hospital 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. The school of nursing was the only nurses' training program in Newfoundland until 1929 when a second school opened. Therefore, almost all trained nurses who worked in Newfoundland were graduates of the General Hospital school of nursing. The exceptions were the British nurses who worked in remote rural areas as medical missionaries with the Grenfell Association and the Newfoundland Outport Nursing and Industrial Association. -- During the first period, 1903 to 1916, Mary Southcott, the Superintendent of Nurses, and the nurses sought to establish their place within the male medical hierarchy of the hospital. They believed the goals of professionalization would help them improve their status in that hierarchy, goals such as autonomy within their occupation, the right to develop their own code of ethics, educational standards, and certification requirements. -- At the same time the hospital was evolving from a marginal welfare institution to a modern health care facility. Doctors and administrators were anxious to carve out their own sphere of influence within this system. They saw it as beneficial to have a subordinate and compliant female workforce as a cheap source of labour. This was supplied by the school of nursing attached to the hospital. Two personalities which played an important role in the development of nursing were Mary Southcott and Lawrence Keegan. Keegan, as Medical Superintendent of the hospital, disagreed with the nurses' view that nurses should have control over all nursing matters. He felt that all aspects of health care should be under his jurisdiction. This contradiction led to a major crisis at the hospital in 1914 with the government instigating a royal commission to examine the problems and suggest ...