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Beyond Nightingale
A Timeline of Milestones in Nursing History (national and international events are in italics)
| 1860 |
Nightingale Training School for Nurses
is established in England. |
| 1883 |
U.S. has 22 schools of nursing. |
| 1893 |
36-bed Mary Hitchcock Memorial
Hospital and MHMH Training
School for Nurses open. |
|
American Society of Superintendents
of Training Schools is founded. |
| 1905 |
MHMH nursing course increases
from two to three years. |
| 1906 |
Graduate Nurses of New Hampshire
formed; group lobbies for state registration
of nurses. |
| 1907 |
Psychiatric rotations at New Hampshire
State Hospital begin (end in
1914). State's first Nurse Practice
Act passes. |
| 1908 |
First formal SON graduation held. |
| 1909 |
First college nursing program opens. |
| 1910 |
Alumnae association formed. First
state board exam given. |
| 1920 |
Billings-Lee opens as a nurses' dorm. |
|
U.S. has 3,000 diploma schools. |
| 1923 |
Committee for Study of Nursing and
Nursing Education decries exploitation
of student nurses as cheap labor. |
| 1924 |
School starts admitting students in
classes instead of one at a time. |
| 1927 |
Hitchcock Clinic founded. |
| 1928 |
Word "training" deleted from SON
name; it's now the MHMH School
of Nursing. |
| 1929 |
MHMH is among first to undergo
voluntary assessment by Committee |
|
on the Grading of Nursing Schools.
First catalogue published. |
| 1937 |
Building 37 opens as a nurses' dorm. |
| 1940s |
Nursing research begins to be done. |
| 1943 |
MHMH participates in U.S. Cadet
Nurse Corps program. |
| 1944 |
Affiliation made with New Hampshire
State Hospital in Concord
(ends in 1964). |
| 1947 |
First yearbook is published. |
| 1950 |
Building 50 opens as a nurses' dorm. |
| 1952 |
SON temporarily accredited by National
League for Nursing (NLN). |
|
The Journal of Nursing Research, the
first such journal, is established. |
| 1955 |
Affiliation made with Boston Lying-
In Hospital (ends in 1962). MHMH
opens one of the nation's first ICUs. |
| 1956 |
Affiliation made with Boston Children's
Hospital (ends in 1968). |
| 1957 |
Department of Nursing organizes as
two entities: service and education. |
| 1958 |
SON gets full NLN accreditation. |
| 1960s |
Team nursing, a national trend, is a
clinical requirement at MHMH. |
| 1963 |
NLN accredits SON for only two
years, indicating serious problems. |
| 1964 |
Psychiatric affiliation made with
Danvers (Mass.) State Hospital. |
| 1965 |
First male student enters SON (11
graduate by the time it closes).
NLN renews accreditation. |
|
American Nurses' Association says the
minimum preparation for nursing
should be a bachelor's degree. |
| 1970s |
MHMH has 420 beds. |
| 1973 |
MHMH becomes part of DHMC. |
| 1974 |
SON faculty holds a conference on
the future of nursing. |
| 1976 |
SON issues a report recommending
the school be closed. |
| 1977 |
MHMH Trustees accept closure recommendation.
Last class enters. |
|
Since 1967, diploma programs have
dropped from 840 to 428, baccalaureate
programs risen from 188 to 329. |
| 1980 |
Last class graduates. MHMH has
trained 1,850 nurses in 87 years. |
| 1981 |
Colby-Sawyer College, in affiliation
with MHMH, begins a bachelor's
program in nursing. |
| 1985 |
National Center for Nursing Research
opens at National Institutes of Health. |
| 1991 |
DHMC moves to Lebanon, N.H. |
| 1994 |
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Air Response
Team begins operation;
team includes flight nurses. |
| 2003 |
American Nurses Credentialing Center
awards DHMC "Magnet" status,
recognition of meeting the highest
standards of nursing excellence. |
| 2004 |
DHMC starts a nurse residency program
using patient simulators. |
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