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Nursing leaders in the postwar era
solved neither the nursing shortage nor the tension between education and service that the
Depression and World War II had exacerbated. In 1947, in an effort to raise standards
lowered during the war, Dean Helen L. Bunge instituted a new basic program in nursing that
required two or more years of college leading to a Bachelor of Science or a Master of
Nursing degree. In her annual reports to the university, Bunge described the pressing need
of the School for more classroom and office space and especially clinical instructors. She
wrote in 1950, "The firm conviction of the faculty that clinical teaching 'on the
scene' is the heart of nursing education, makes teaching facilities in the clinical field
absolutely strategic to the success of the programs."21 Bunge was aware of the changing roles of women in the 1950s and how they affected women's choices. Nursing was no longer a profession limited largely to single women. The curriculum had to be made attractive to married women, often with children. She wrote: "Nursing schools must prepare students for the expanding role of women and nurses as citizens and individuals as well as help them develop a professional competence equal to the demands of today."22 In 1951, in an effort to attract practicing RNs, the school experimented with offering night courses."23 Still, enrollment continued to decline and the shortage of nurses persisted. In 1952, an editorial in the Plain Dealer raised questions about the nursing shortage and suggested that one way to solve it might be for the school to accept women with high school diplomas into the nursing program.24 Frances Bolton reacted strongly against this article. She wrote to Dean Bunge, "Who is trying to shove us back into the high school graduate era?" A few days later Bunge, referring to the nursing shortage at University Hospitals, replied: "Our School can never solve University Hospitals' complex problems-even the nursing ones. Goodness knows the country doesn't need more Schools of Nursing, nor does Cleveland." The next year, Bunge left the Bolton School to work for the advancement of the nursing profession from a national perspective. She helped to set up the Institute of Research and Service in Nursing Education at Columbia Teachers College. She was also instrumental in the founding of the journal Nursing Research and later served as its editor. 21 Helen L. Bunge, School of Nursing Annual Report,
Western Reserve University, 1949-1950, CWRU Archives, Rg. 29, series 1DA, box 4. |
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