Title: A look back at diploma schools of nursing: A look back at our history
Abstract:
Barbara McQuillan and Carolyn Smeltzer, were co-chairs of their 50th class reunion from Evanston Hospital School of Nursing (EHSN) in 2022. We, authors of Evanston Hospital School of Nursing 1898-1984, were disappointed that Evanston Hospital, l now known as Endeavor Health, did not have any memorabilia of our school. We were hoping to have images and memorabilia that would highlight the reunion and bring back special memories. We believed images would help make our time referencing the past “come alive.” When we asked for memorabilia of the school, a hospital executive stated “all school memorabilia were destroyed in a basement flood.” We had lived on the hospital premises for three years, walked the hospital halls more times than we could count and now we were told there is no existing evidence of our past. The school was our alma mater of which we were proud and now it was like the school never existed, yet in our hearts and mind, we knew it had. The school had helped shape our values, crafted our future and provided education as well as skills that enabled us to provide compassionate care for others and become leaders in our profession. Today, if you enter the hospital, you could not imagine Evanston Hospital ever had a school of nursing. It appeared our history of the school had been erased, just like our dormitory had been razed and turned into a parking garage. We felt sad and empty of our past. However our sadness quickly turned into motivation. The motivation was to have the memories of EHSN and of all diploma nursing schools be recognized and remembered in history. Our passion of preserving the past led us to explore our school’s history and our time as students. The motivation made us want to explore our school from the beginning of its existence, 1898, until it’s closing in 1984 We were committed to learn how our school educated students and created learning patient experiences in comparison to other diploma schools of nursing. We focused our efforts on national research as well as self testimony. We discovered that all diploma schools of nursing had similar beginnings as well as teaching methods and philosophies of “how to prepare students” to become nurses. Some nursing diploma schools differentiated themselves by culture, location, faculty excellence, an association with a university, state board passage rates, heritage, and/or religion beliefs. All diploma programs were committed to educational curriculums and practical hands-on experiences that trained the student nurses to care for the sick from day one after graduation. We concluded diploma schools of nursing were more similar than different. This presentation will inspire all of us not to forget our history of how diploma education paved the way for our nursing educational processes of today. This presentation will bring back memories from your educational years as well as endear us to our history that should not be forgotten.
