Nursing in Canada
In 1990, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II, and is the first native-born Canadian to be elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.
[14] In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women made inroads into various professions including teaching, journalism, social work, and public health.
These advances included the establishment of a Women's Medical College in Toronto (and in Kingston, Ontario) in 1883, attributed in part to the persistence of Emily Stowe, the first female physician to practise in Canada.
Poverty and geographic isolation empowered women to learn and practise medical care with the herbs, roots, and berries that worked for their mothers.
The reliance on homeopathic remedies continued as trained nurses, doctors, and how-to manuals slowly reached the homesteaders in the early 20th century.
The mission was governed by a volunteer board of women directors and began by raising money for its first year of service through charitable donations and payments from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
[20] Richardson (1998) examines the social, political, economic, class, and professional factors that contributed to ideological and practical differences between leaders of the Alberta Association of Graduate Nurses (AAGN), established in 1916, and the United Farm Women of Alberta (UFWA), founded in 1915, regarding the promotion and acceptance of midwifery as a recognized subspecialty of registered nurses.
Irene Parlby, the UFWA's first president, lobbied for the establishment of a provincial Department of Public Health, government-provided hospitals and doctors, and passage of a law to permit nurses to qualify as registered midwives.
Founded in 1919 to meet maternal and emergency medical needs by the United Farm Women (UFWA), the Nursing Service treated prairie settlers living in primitive areas lacking doctors and hospitals.
Nurses provided prenatal care, worked as midwives, performed minor surgery, conducted medical inspections of schoolchildren, and sponsored immunization programs.
The post-Second World War discovery of large oil and gas reserves resulted in economic prosperity and the expansion of local medical services.
The passage of provincial health and universal hospital insurance in 1957 precipitated the eventual phasing out of the obsolete District Nursing Service in 1976.
They were often close to the front lines, and the military doctors – all men – delegated significant responsibility to the nurses because of the high level of casualties, the shortages of physicians, and extreme working conditions.
Currently, many RNs have been "grandfathered in" and are practising with a previously obtained 2-3 year diploma that was achieved at the college level, which in many cases was or is equal to practical nursing education.
RN education now is mandated to be 4 years in length through a degree granting institution (a university) in all provinces except Quebec.
Practical nurses are educated at the college level after two to three years of study and are granted a diploma upon successful completion.
Nurse Practitioners assess, diagnose, treat and monitor a wide range of health problems using an evidence based approach to their practice.
In addition, Nurse Practitioners are experts in community health care needs assessment and program planning, implementation and evaluation.
[38] It is not necessary but is encouraged by employers to join relevant professional associations for the facilitation of learning safe practices and timely adaptation, etc.
