Her father denied her education because of her gender and provided her a position as a domestic in Stockholm.

At that time, feldsher- and barber was the title for a surgeon who performed less complicated surgical operations.

Johanna Hedén made her oath and took her exam as a barber- and feldsher surgeon at the Sundhetskollegium on 7 August 1863,[1] thereby formally making her the first trained female surgeon in Sweden, granting her the permission to be professionally active in this field.

She herself formally commented on this: "I took my exam as a feldsher to great discontent of my male colleagues, and after this I practiced at industrial estates and often assisted at injuries".

There is a statue of Johanna Hedén by Inga-Louise Lindgren in front of the Östra Hospital in Gothenburg.