The Great Depression and the
Nation's Need for Health Care |
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The crash of the New York
Stock Exchange in 1929 heralded a decade of severe economic and social problems for
the country. Many of the nation's banks closed and by 1933 almost one-third of the American
work force was unemployed. The nation's poverty led to increased illness in the
population.
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"Many hospital administrators,
worried by the burden of maintaining a first-class school of nursing ... have turned to the thought
of [using] a graduate staff as a means of answering some of these questions [about
service]."
Helen Sparks, "Graduate Staff Nursing," AJN (1935),
vol. 35, p. 743
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The nation's economic depression intensified the problems of
graduate nurses:
"... we have thousands of
nurses unemployed, thousands more working twelve to twenty hours a day, and at the same time,
people who need nursing care are going unnursed ..."
Stella Goostray, "What
Lies Ahead for the Nursing Profession?" AJN (1935), p. 766
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During 1936, approximately 6,000
nurses were employed on Works Progress Administration projects. In 1933, the Civil Works
Administration (CWA) provided funds to employ 300 needy nurses.
"Some of these [nurses] were so destitute that
clothing and shoes had to be provided before they could accept work."
Philip and Bernice Kalisch, Advances in American Nursing (1995), p.
306
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From Private Duty
to
General Staff Nursing
The closing of nursing schools and the federal initiatives of the 1930s encouraged hospitals to
employ graduates for staff nursing positions.
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The Eight Hour Day
"In the interest of good nursing, we believe that nurses,
in caring for acutely ill patients, should not be expected to work more than eight hours out of
twenty-four."
Recommendation accepted by the Board of Directors, ANA
(August 25, 1933)
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Economic Stress
"Private duty nurses comprise approximately 65% of
the membership of the ANA and their problems have been particularly acute during this period
of economic stress."
Report of Alma H. Scott, Acting Director of ANA
Headquarters, Proceedings of the 29th Convention (April 22 - 27, 1934), p. 145
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Copyright 1996 American Nurses
Association, 600 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20024-2571
All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission of
ANA. |
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