American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN)
Association intended to provide a forum for nurses to discuss and influence factors that affect men as nurses; encourages men of all ages to become nurses, supports men in nursing, and advocates for research, education, and the dissemination of informatio
Army School of Nursing
American military school of nursing established during World War I.
Black Death
An epidemic thought to be the bubonic plague that swept across Asia, Africa, and Europe in the 1300s.
Bolton Act
Established the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps; also called the Nurse Training Act of 1943.
Comstock Act of 1873
Law forbidding both the dissemination of birth control information and the distribution of birth control devices.
Dark Ages of Nursing
The Reformation; so called because trained Protestant nurses left the profession, leaving nursing to many without training, including thieves and prostitutes sentenced to the task. Deaconess woman chosen by church leadership to care for the poor and the s
Ebers papyrus
The oldest preserved medical document in the world; contains prescriptions written in hieratic script for over seven hundred remedies.
Frontier Nursing
Service private charitable organization founded in the rural Appalachian Mountain region of eastern Kentucky in 1925; assisted with deliveries for women of the region.
The Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (FSMFN)
A still-extant school offering education for the development of nurse-midwives, family nurse practitioners, and women's health care nurse practitioners.
Geneva Convention Treaty
Among other things, established military hospitals as safe havens where physicians and nurses could care for the wounded of any Unlawful nation; led to the formalization of the International Red Cross.
Geroncomion
Translates to "home for the aged.
Gulf War Syndrome
Mysterious complex of symptoms experienced by veterans of the Persian Gulf War, perhaps due to chemical weapons.
Hammurabi's Code
Early form of managed health care that included uniform fees for service, objective outcome measurement standards, consumer and patient rights, and legal regulation of physicians.
Health Amendments Act
1956 law that provided funds for nurses to pursue advanced preparation for administrative, supervisory, and teaching positions; expanded practical, or vocational, nurse programs; and mandated several influential postwar nursing studies.
Henry Street Settlement
Early American nurse service staffed by both nurses and social workers.
Hippocratic oath
Ancient oath still taken by graduates of medical school; the source of the phrase "do no harm.
h�tels-dieu
Translates to "God's houses;" an early kind of hospital maintained by monks.
iatria
Greek precursors to modern outpatient clinics.
International Red Cross
A movement to establish humanitarian associations that used volunteer help in every country to aid in war relief efforts.
Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute
Hospital and medical school with a three-year course of study for Protestant deaconesses, including training in nursing, pharmacy, and teaching; considered the most significant early Protestant nursing organization.
monasticism
A movement wherein a man or a woman chooses to remain single, widowed, or divorced, devoting themselves to God; eventually incorporated educating children and caring for the poor and the sick.
Mosaic Law
Several Old Testament books focusing on communicable-disease management through isolation procedures, ceremonial rituals, and regulations governing preparing, eating, and abstention from certain foods.
National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN)
Association influenced in its establishment by Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first black nurse to graduate from a school of nursing in the United States.
National Organization for Public Health Nursing (NOPHN)
Organization once responsible for developing standards for public health nursing and setting up public health courses for nurses in baccalaureate schools of nursing.
New England Hospital for Women and Children
Founded the first school of nursing in America.
Nightingale Training School for Nurses
An independent, secular school of nursing unaffiliated with any religious body; established in London in 1860.
nosocomium
Translates to "place for the sick;" a kind of hospital.
Nurse Training Act of 1964
Vietnam-era bill that funded nursing programs that were either accredited by the National League for Nursing (NLN) or expected to be accredited in the near future.
Nursing
A derivative of the Latin word nutrire, meaning "to nourish.
parish nurse movement
Movement based on the early church deaconess movement; uses nurses who are hired by churches or who volunteer coordinate care for those in the congregation, especially the frail elderly.
Planned Parenthood Federation
Group of clinics founded by Margaret Sanger that focuses on family planning.
unification model
Stresses the need for clinically prepared faculty and for clinical competence among students pursuing advanced degrees.
U.S. Army Nurse Corps
Established by Dorothea Lynde Dix to treat Union troops during the Civil war.
U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps
Created under the Bolton Act to address nursing shortages during World War II.
wet nurses
Women hired to suckle other women's infants.
xenodocheion
Inn for strangers and travelers.
xenodochia
Translates to "houses for strangers;" eventually used by Hebrews in caring for outsiders.
Clara Barton
Person most closely associated with the founding of the American Association of the Red Cross.
Frances Payne Bolton
Philanthropist, Ohio congresswoman, and health care reformer whose influence led to the creation and passage of the Bolton Act.
Mary Breckinridge
Nurse who founded the Frontier Nursing Service.
Mary Brewster
With Lillian D. Wald, established the first public health service in the home they shared.
Catherine of Siena
Woman who cared for the sick in hospitals and organized an early form of ambulance service that consisted of male stretcher bearers to transport the sick to hospitals in the 1300s.
Luther Christman
Registered nurse and a founder of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN).
Dorothea Lynde Dix
Responsible for major reform in the treatment of the mentally ill.
Lavinia Dock
Prominent nurse suffragette who greatly influenced the current movement of independent nursing practice that now includes the expanded role of the nurse as clinical specialist and as nurse practitioner.
Jean Henri Dunant
Provided the vision for the Red Cross.
Fabiola
Wealthy Roman matron who founded the first free Christian public hospital specifically for the sick poor in her own palace; actually engaged in nursing herself.
Friederike Fliedner
One of the founders of the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute.
Theodor Fliedner
One of the founders of the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute.
Galen
The most famous Greek physician and surgeon who served the Romans.
Sairey Gamp
Private-duty home care nurse who came to work inebriated, as described by Charles Dickens in his 1843 novel, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit; considered the prototype of nurses of that era.
Annie W. Goodrich
First dean of the Army School of Nursing.
Helena
The mother of Constantine the Great, and a Christian convert who used her wealth to care for the poor.
Hildegarde of Bingen
Benedictine nun from Germany, trained noblewomen to care for the sick in her abbey and wrote extensively about the causes of, symptoms of, and cures for various diseases at a time when many physicians were basing their practice on horoscope reading.
Hippocrates
Considered the father of modern scientific medicine; originator of the Hippocratic oath.
Imhotep
One of the first recorded physicians in history; worshipped after his death as the Egyptian god of medicine.
Jesus Christ
According to Christianity, the son of God.
Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem
Male nursing military order that cared for crusaders in Jerusalem.
Knights of St. Lazarus
Nursing order of monks focusing on caring for those with leprosy.
Martin Luther
Former monk who sparked a movement now commonly known as the Reformation.
Mary Eliza Mahoney
First African American nurse to graduate from a school of nursing in the United States.
Catherine McAuley
Founded the Sisters of Mercy.
Florence Nightingale
Nursing leader associated with the Crimean War; also considered the founder of modern professional nursing.
Phoebe
Woman of Greek origin who converted to Christianity and was one of the first deaconesses; also called the first visiting nurse.
Melinda Ann (Linda)Richards
One of the first graduates of the first school of nursing in America; considered by most historians to be the first trained nurse.
Isabel Hampton Robb
Influential leader in the field of nursing education who established the first grading policy in a nursing school.
Lina L. Rogers
First public school nurse in New York City.
Margaret Sanger
Founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation; controversial for her views on eugenics and abortion.
Elizabeth Seton
Established the Sisters of Charity.
Sisters of Charity
The first American religious order.
Sisters of Mercy
An order that came to the United States in 1843 and started hospitals that cared for the wounded during the American Civil War.
Sojourner Truth
African American woman best known for her role as an abolitionist during the Civil War, her role in the women's suffrage movement, and her care of Union soldiers.
Harriet Tubman
A black abolitionist best known for her work in the Underground Railroad movement, during which she enabled approximately three hundred slaves to gain freedom; also a matron at the Colored Hospital in Virginia during the war.
St. Vincent de Paul
Founded the Sisters of Charity.
Lillian D. Wald
With Mary Brewster, established the first public health service in the home they shared.
Granger Westberg
Lutheran minister who began the current parish nurse movement.