'You Don't Have Any Business Being This Good': An Oral History Interview with Bernardine Lacey.

Racism left an indelible mark on Bernardine Lacey and her professional growth as a nurse, including roles as an educator, political advocate, researcher, clinician, and leader. This article uses oral history methods to detail, in Lacey's own words, experiences from her childhood and early in her education and career. Her story allows for an exploration of some of the difficult truths about racism, the culpable role of nursing in this history, and the impact of historical accounts on the profession's current inclusivity and diversity efforts.

Using nursing history to inform decision-making: Infectious diseases at the turn of the 20th century.

BACKGROUND: This historical paper examines the impact of infectious diseases on the urban poor of Chicago and New York a century ago, before most vaccines were developed. PURPOSE: Working on the front lines of health promotion and health care, nurses and other providers are charged with informing the public about offered vaccines. The intent of this paper is to supplement providers' knowledge about vaccination with an appreciation of the devastation these diseases once caused. METHOD: Historical methodology guided this study in which archival and oral sources were used. DISCUSSION: The continued outbreaks of smallpox at the turn of the twentieth century, when a vaccine was available, may be compared with the re-emergence of measles today. Additionally, this paper shows the devastation caused by other, non-preventable, infections of the period. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of the history related to the impact of infectious diseases, especially the role nurses played in decision-making related to care, is critical for today's health care providers.

Intergenerational Lessons and 'Fabulous Stories'.

OVERVIEW: While directing the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, Susan B. Hassmiller, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's senior adviser for nursing, realized the value that nursing history could bring to the campaign. She decided to interview her mother, Jacqueline J. Wouwenberg, a 1947 graduate of the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, in order to better understand and contextualize changes that had occurred in the nursing profession during the 20th century. In collaboration with nurse historians Cathryne A. Welch and Sandra B. Lewenson, Hassmiller participated in interviewing her mother and was also interviewed herself. The stories that emerged revealed a great deal: each woman had found that nursing had given them countless opportunities that reflected the time periods in which they lived. Wouwenberg's experiences, transmitted to Hassmiller through words and actions, also served as important lessons for her daughter. This article shares five lessons: be independent and courageous, know that nursing has no bounds, follow your passion, honor diversity, and give back. It also asks readers to reflect on the relevance of nurses' work from one generation to the next..

A nursing historical perspective on the medical home: impact on health care policy.

BACKGROUND: The idea of a "medical home" is rapidly gaining in popularity in health policy circles today. In the face of a shortage of primary care physicians, it has led to a national debate about who should lead the homes, who should deliver care, the kind of care that should be offered, and the location of that care. A historical examination of nurses' role in primary care can provide evidence to inform the current dialogue. PURPOSE: This article provides insight into nursing's role in primary health care during the early 20th century. METHODS: Traditional historical methods were used. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Three historical case studies provide evidence of how nursing and medicine worked together in the past and informs the discussion about using nurses to deliver primary health care today. Policy makers should not overlook the central role nurses have long played in providing access to care for numerous underserved populations. Makers should not overlook the central role nurses have long played in providing access to care for numerous underserved populations.

"Nurses' training may be shifted": the story of Bellevue and Hunter College, 1942-1969.

During the mid-20th century, nursing leaders advocated moving nursing education out of hospital-based programs and into colleges and universities for the purpose of preparing nurses to meet the demands of increasingly complex health care situations. Nursing leaders in New York City's municipal hospitals recognized the value of this change and sought to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses to fill the many vacancies within city hospitals. This article examines the political support New York gave to the expansion of Hunter College's baccalaureate program in nursing (a college within the City University of New York system) while closing the almost 100-year-old Bellevue and Mills Schools of Nursing diploma program. The efforts to change nursing at Bellevue started in the 1940s, but the transfer to Hunter College was not realized until 1967. Although the decision to close the diploma school met resistance among various stakeholders, the expansion ultimately succeeded. It was supported by the New York City Department of Hospitals and received approval from the Board of Estimates and Board of Higher Education. Both Bellevue and Hunter's leadership was ready to make this change and participated in this transformation.

Learning the faculty role: using the evolving case story of professor able in an online master of nursing education program.

This article presents the use of a case story about a fictitious character, Professor Able, as a strategy to learn about the role of the nurse educator and to assist in the transition from clinical practice into that role. The story evolves over a 13-week semester in an engaging, asynchronous online environment where students explore what it means to be a nurse educator. The story of Professor Able provides insights into faculty issues such as academic freedom, integrity, governance, and diversity. Students' online discussions highlight the interactive learning experience and outcomes generated by the use of the case story. This teaching strategy offers support for nurses transitioning into the much-needed role of nurse educator.

Making time: moving the faculty dossier to an electronic format.

With the shortage of nursing faculty comes the challenge of an increasing workload and the competing demands for time required for teaching, service, and scholarship. Faculty must demonstrate their excellence in each of these areas as they prepare dossiers for annual reviews, tenure, and promotion. This article explores how technology can help faculty find additional time to achieve the expectations of higher education and establish an ongoing repository of faculty data and documentation. To accomplish this, the authors designed a faculty electronic dossier (e-dossier), using Blackboard technology to replace the traditional paper dossier. This article describes the process of designing the faculty e-dossier and presenting it to the faculty and administrators and discussing the acceptance of this innovative change. The authors use Rogers' (Rogers E. (1983). Diffusion of innovation (3rd ed.) (rev.ed.) London: The Free Press.) diffusion of innovation theory to understand why faculty were more accepting of this innovation than were administrators and how to address this difference.

Practice what you teach: a case study of ethical conduct in the academic setting.

Nursing faculty teach ethics and ethical behavior in undergraduate and graduate curriculum. In this article, a case study is presented that illustrates a breach of ethical behavior and conduct in the academic setting by both faculty and students. The decision-making process used to resolve this dilemma by the chair, the associate dean, and a faculty member relied on a dialectic approach that looked at philosophical underpinnings, historical background of nursing ethics, and university- and schoolwide policies and procedures. The conversations facilitated the ethical resolution to the dilemma raised in the case study as well as the recognition of additional issues for consideration. The authors uncovered compelling questions that included, "What is meant by ethical conduct in the classroom?," "How do we teach it?," and "How do we practice it?" The purpose of this article is to begin the dialogue in search of answers to these questions.

Integrating nursing history into the curriculum.

Understanding nursing history helps us to comprehend current issues in nursing and anticipate future trends in the profession. Faculty need strategies that will assist them in making history meaningful in the crammed, packed undergraduate and graduate curricula. This article examines how nursing history has been taught in the curriculum since the National League of Nursing Education first introduced a standardized curriculum in 1917 until the present. It explores the teaching strategies used in the past and expands on some of these methods and strategies in order to include them in nursing curricula today.