Welcome to this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted Saga where we journey through the history of nursing education using stories that connect the past to the present and then our future as we reimagine our teaching, learning, and scholarship. It is often said that the past teaches us about the present; to study history is to study change.
This year Saga gives voice to nursing through the words of our early nurse leaders who organized a discipline and carved out systems to formalize the education of nurses throughout the United States. In Their Own Words illuminates the visionary work of NLN pathfinders who question traditional curriculum paradigms and in the process co-created standards for nursing education to build the
discipline of nursing. The focus of this Saga both parts one and two will be on the evolution of nursing research in its ongoing growth and importance to the discipline of nursing. As with curriculum, the formalization of research in nursing education as a unique story that aligns with the National League for Nursing's ongoing
core value of excellence. This Saga - Evolution of Nursing Research part one - will focus on the deep connection between research and the need for accreditation facing schools of nursing across the country in the mid to late 1920s. To fully capture the spirit of this evolution, we will tell the story through the words of nursing education's early leaders documented from the proceedings of NLN annual conventions
specifically 1929 to 1932. These publications are part of the NLN Archives collection currently housed at the Bates Center for the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. All proceedings are digitalized and available online. Let's begin. Research in and of itself has always been a part of the discipline of nursing.
The culture of nursing research has evolved over the last 150 years recognizing Florence Nightingale's early research during the Crimean War in the mid-1850s to today's National Institute of Nursing Research. Let's explore the story.
You will recall from our other Saga episodes that the nursing discipline first organized itself as a Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses back in 1893 that later became what we know now today as the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. Their goal back in the early 1900s was to work collaboratively to attain uniformity in the work of nurses across the country and standardize
the process of education. This work of setting and maintaining standards was accomplished through numerous work committees within both organizations. During the 35th annual meeting in 1929, Carolyn E. Gray, chair of the committee for the study of nursing education in colleges and universities, gave an accounting of the results on three
to compile a list of schools of nursing with college and university connections and the extent the schools offered courses leading to a degree. Two: to determine the number of nursing schools seeking funding for nursing education. And finally three: to determine the number of nursing students enrolled in seeking a degree following a uniform program. While this is an example of only one NLNE committee at work, many other committees were fast at work collecting and studying
the discipline. For example, the committee on grading, a short-term committee responsible for collecting outcome data from schools of nursing across the country or the education committee, a committee responsible for curriculum development. There was concern about overlap and duplication across committees so the superintendents created a committee to study the functions and resources
of the NLNE. This committee studied and analyzed the work of all the League committees and those of other nursing organizations. What they found in their work was a growing theme surrounding accreditation. The discipline of nursing had been seeking uniformity and standardization since its inception, however, other disciplines had already established
accrediting organizations. Academic institutions, such as the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities or the American Association of University Women, to name a couple. And so too had the professions, such as the American Medical Association, the American Pharmaceutical Association, and the American Bar Association. All were accrediting. There were no formal accrediting organizations focused on nursing.
At the 35th annual meeting, Mary M. Roberts, chair of the committee to study the functions and resources of the NLNE, shared their findings and one important point was highlighted: the work of accrediting and research go hand in hand. Linking accreditation with research was bold and intuitive. In January 1930, the committee
on research and accrediting was appointed. During the 36th annual report of superintendent's meeting in 1930, Nellie Hawkinson, the new chair of this committee, reported the following recommendations:
the committee on research and accrediting would begin to set academic and professional standards. These would come from the scientific studies carried out by the committee on grading.
the need to have paid personnel carry out accrediting and research using experts in the field to assure effectiveness.
a nurse qualified to do educational research be added as soon as possible to the League staff at headquarters.
Following a year of intense committee work, Mary M. Roberts, the chair of the committee on functions and resources of the NLNE, reported during the 37th annual meeting that the work of these committees demonstrated such value that they be set up in connection with a new research department of the League and that the League accept the responsibility for accrediting schools of nursing. This involves the setting up of a research department, which shall make both statistical
and field studies. And thus, research in nursing education was commissioned. With a focus on excellence, these forward-thinking leaders at the foresight to embrace research as a means to achieve excellence in both practice and education. The operationalized research to better inform standardization, paving the way for nursing accreditation.
In part two of this Saga, we will focus on the ongoing development of formal research within the League, the methods of research and study, and the evolving dialogue on research and its impact to clarify the issues before the nursing discipline then and now. And so the Saga continues and may our Saga continue as we bring to a close this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted Saga. thank you for joining us