How Mass General Nurses Have Pioneered the Field of Nursing

For more than a 150 years, a school of nursing has been associated with Massachusetts General Hospital. 

As the third school to be founded in the US in 1873 with training based on the Nightingale model, its graduates have been pioneers and leaders in nursing.

While Massachusetts General Hospital had been open for over 50 years, nursing conditions were very different.

While the hospital did employ head nurses, under nurses, and night watchmen, none had any type of formalized training and there were no standards regarding qualifications for hire. Their jobs included non-nursing tasks such as cleaning as well.

After the MGH School of Nursing was founded, the alumni became leaders in the creation of national organizations; professional journals; in passing of state legislation establishing criteria for professional nursing; and the registration/licensing of nurses.

They were leaders in standardizing nursing curricula, organizing nursing schools and administering hospitals. They led nursing into new areas of practice and research. Read more.