Becoming A Nurse In Vietnam War

Envision for a moment what the responsibilities of a working nurse consist of each day. As you can imagine their days are filled with patient care, paperwork, doctor calls, and busy hospital activities. That was not always the case, nursing during the 1940’s was nothing like today. There was a lack of Organized nursing because institutions providing formal nursing education were unavailable. In fact most nurses at that time were stay at home moms. These women volunteered at local military hospitals. Virginia Benson 2013 stated, “At first nurses of both sides confined their duties to religious counsel, aiding in mortally wounded soldier to face a “good death”, and writing about that death to his family.” All of these new changes for women occur during

Before the existence of the Great War, America had fought in previous wars. In the years before the Great War nursing was not even a word for the women who had helped with the aid of fallen soldiers. Florence Nightingale, who helped in establishing nursing as a career used her efforts in organizing an emergency nursing service (Dahlman 2). Nightingale started off at first with forty women, some of whom were Sisters of Religious Nursing Orders and others hospital-taught women of the old school, not trained in the modern way, but experienced (Dahlman 3). Florence Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital which was the parent of the modern system of nursing. From her, therefore, we may well date the story of nursing service of the American Red Cross (Dahlman 4).

“Where there are men fighting, there are always nurses.” 2 Women worked on the front and at home during World War ll, unlike women nurses who were not in the fighting

For most of this Word War, nurses were the only females to attend outside of Australia in any capacity, except for the Australian Women's Army Service. During this war the losses of nurses was much higher than the las war. Over 3,477 Australian Army Nurse Service (AANS) nurses served, and out of that only 71 never returned, which means they lost their lives during operating services while overseas. During World War II, many women serving as AANS nurses, including Vivian Bullwinkel, were taken captive of war by the Japanese forces in Japan. They experienced severe suffering, withdrawal, and illness helped to make this unpleasant war-time experience for themselves and also friends/family. Friendships, trustworthiness and mutual support attempted to help in these trying environments, but not all of the women survived. (see appendix

These early nurses were quickly educated on the rigors of war and the primitive accommodations. Hundreds of women lasted little more than a month and for those that did last the work became gratifying and their Christian mission. At the bloodiest moments of the war, nurses braved heat of moment and offered selflessly to treat injured. These ladies

With the establishment of the National Nursing Council for War the nursing shortage was able to be tackled. With encouragement from the council the United States Public Health Service conducted a National Inventory of Registered Nurses, which informed them of the number of nurses in the nation, their preparation, experience and availability to help with the war (Jamieson et al., 1966). After the National Inventory of Registered Nurses was conducted it allowed for federal funds to be granted to nursing schools in the nation in good standing, so that they could increase student enrollment. During the beginning of World War II nurses that joined the military did not receive many benefits and were also underpaid compared to their male counter parts. However, as the war continued the need for nurses in both the civilian and military settings became so great that in 1943 Congress passed the Bolton Bill, sponsored by Mrs. Frances Payne Bolton (Jamieson et

According to celebrating the nurses of Vietnam “Combat nurses worked twelve hour shifts six days a week and when a mass casualty incident occurred, like a major battle, those twelve hour shifts could easily turn into twenty-four to thirty-six hour shifts.” The nurses would work like crazy and weren't appreciated by the people.Questions like did they have to fight,what were the surgeries that they had to do ,and how fast did the nurses have to get to work is the topic of the paper.

Likewise, the majority of these women were only in their early twenties when they came home to a country that did not understand what they had experienced. Similarly, even today, there is little research focusing on the experience of military nurses in the Vietnam War.

Many nurses stations and hospitals were attacked by opposing sides and younger nurses were terrified and could not continue nursing for the soldiers, other nurses in this situation were injured, many recovered but there are some accounts of nurses living after the war with breathing issues and limbs missing from attacks. Nurses also lived with shellshock after the war. Most of the cases were nurses not being able to sleep as they would still be able to hear gunshots and soldiers screaming for help and dreaming about excruciating injuries

The Vietnam War was the longest war ever fought by U.S. military forces. U.S. personnel were engaged from 1961 until 1973. Approximately 10,000 U.S. military women served in Vietnam during the war. Most were members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Nurse Corps. All of the Army nurses were volunteers who attended a six-week basic training class, and then were assigned to one-year stunts in Vietnam hospitals and mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) units. Most of these nurses were fresh out of nursing school, some with less than six months of clinical experience. These nurses were not prepared for the physical and emotional wounds that they would have to heal.

From 1861 to 1865, “between 2,000 to 5,000 women” volunteered to serve as nurses in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses from all over came to lend a hand during this devastating time. Clara Barton, Annie Etheridge, Dorothea Dix, Susie King Taylor, and Helen Gilson were just a few of the many nurses who volunteer their services to the war effort. Women wanted to be involved and help out as much as they could. Most women did not want to be at home - doing their traditional domestic work. Many women thought that helping out during the Civil War as nurses was an addition to doing their home duties. Women also believed that working as a nurse helping soldiers during the war would make a difference in how people viewed them. Being a

were determined to become involved, often lying about their age to fit the requirements. Others took other jobs in the hospital serving as cooks, laundress and assistants. Women who served as nurses seemed to gain respect from society who initially was against them serving close to battles. “The army of relief workers that labored for millions of hours alongside soldiers instituted greater change in public attitudes about women at work than those who challenged perspective notions of femininity.” A soldier in Virginia described his experience with a nurse in a letter to his mother, “I saw one young lady in the very front of the battle dressing wounds and aiding the suffering where few surgeons dared to go.” His letter described

As expected, with war comes extensive injuries. During WWI, it took a wounded soldier about 24 hours to travel from the battlefield to a hospital. Many times, the soldiers did not live through that excruciating 24 hours. The wounds inflicted on many soldiers led to the development of new medical techniques and improvements (iWonder 2015). The quickly rising death toll during WWI led to the creation of blood transfusion techniques. Prior to WWI, blood transfusions were nearly impossible without cross-matching blood types. An article published by Medical History argues that, “Though the technique (blood transfusions) caused several deaths, it did save dozens of other men, proving its lifesaving

Each sample was tested before it was shipped. He took every possible measure to avoid poor handling and contamination of blood plasma. He closely monitored the shipments of these life-saving plasmas to treat war casualties. For five months, “Blood for Britain” project ran successfully with approximately 15000 people turning donors and approximately 5,000 vials of blood plasma collected.

After 1917, when women were allowed to join the military, the most popular job was nursing. 33,000 women served as nurses during the last two years of World War One, for the first time women were officially considered apart of America’s military (Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military). The more years that passed with women involved in the military, the more respect they gained in the