Abstract: Up until the 1980s most of the historical writing about nursing and nurses in this country has been told from the points of view of past nursing leaders. The realities of day-to-day nursing in New Zealand general hospitals were relatively unknown.This thesis examines the experience of general hospital nursing between 1945 and 1960. The recollections of thirty-four nurses who nursed during this period have provided the key sources from which the major themes of this study have emerged. These themes, of dirty work, authoritarian control and discipline, and learning nursing are discussed within the context of an expanding hospital system and a shortage of nurses.The study demonstrates the vast differences between the recollections of nurses of the experience of nursing and the rather high-flown rhetoric of the nursing leadership.Changes to the amount of cleaning, the ;level of discipline and control, and ways in which learning nursing was organised were small and gradual and occurred in the late 1950s.Overall, though, nursing in general hospitals by 1960 ws almost unchanged from the 1930s.An ethos of selfless service, opposition to unionism, and Christian altruism was till dominant amongst the nursing leadership. Nurses in training still worked a six day week, were expected to stay on duty until the work was done, and were supervised closely in, on and off duty time

Abstract: The caring experiences of patients and nurses, within the context of that relationship, within a mental health setting, were examined. A phenomenological approach was used to discover the meanings beyond the respondents descriptions and expressions of what it meant to be to be cared for, or to provide care

Abstract: An emergent theoretical perspective in the nursing literature relates to nursing as a human science and the application of critical social science and feminist frameworks to nursing research. This research adds to the discipline's knowledge base in that it is at the leading edge of exploring how critical case study illuminates critical issues in the practice of nursing.My interest in the research question came from hearing colleagues espouse the view that other than a legal one, there were no differences in practice between enrolled and registered nurses. How accurate was this perception? Without answers to this question, members of the nursing profession in New Zealand were likely to make some major decisions about the future of enrolled nursing which history will show were ill founded. Since I “walk the talk” of both the world of practice and the corridors of nursing power relationships, I sought answers by incorporating the viewpoints of both groups into the research design.Five registered nurses who had previously been enrolled nurses were asked to consider what was different about their present practice compared to their experiences as an enrolled nurse.Through critically reflexive discourse and journalling, Liz, Emma, Kathy, Helen and myself came to reflect on our nursing worlds in order to transform them.Writing about these transformations in a way that kept our voices alive was more difficult. The cases were written as stories, using storytelling as a legitimate academic activity to link the methodology with the theoretical perspectives. This ensured our individual voices were heard rather than silenced by the research process. It also left a clear decision trail for the reader to follow related to issues of rigor. Paradoxically, the identification of patterns across the case studies was facilitated.Two main patterns emerged in answer to the question “what's different in your practice now from when you were an enrolled nurse?” The differences were explicated in the pattern “Becoming a registered nurse” while “She was one of us” exposed the underlying power and control issues. This study found that the enrolled nurse controls practice at the bedside.The nursing profession's stance on the future of enrolled nurses was also explored through case study. Key nursing stakeholders were interviewed using a proposed legislative change to the Nurses' Act, 1977, that would lead to the demise of the enrolled nurses as a category of nurse, as a focus point. These different perspectives expose for critique the socio-political forces that silence the voice of enrolled nurses in determining their own future. At a legislative level, the stakeholders' voices are dominant. The future of enrolled nurses looks increasingly bleak in New Zealand as the nursing profession positions itself legislatively for the 21st century

Abstract: This is an oral herstory of two West Coast Women in conversation with a contemporary, and all are nurses. The conversations are presented as whole patterns which are quilted together to form a story within a story. I have woven in my story, with the commonality of being a nurse and having lived on the West Coast for five years.Until the 1960s, women on the West Coast had had very little written about their lives and the nursing records on the Coast were very limited, even in the 1990s. The women in this study conveyed the childhood memories and the nursing days, as they reflected on a training that was strictly disciplined, hierarchical in a hospital based apprentice system.The opportunity to do this project has enabled me to explore some of the aspects of the lives of women on the West Coast, particularly through the eyes of two wonderful women. Their contribution has been particularly valuable, in that they were able to convey how it was for them as children, and also the experiences of their mother and other women. Both were nurses who trained at Grey River Hospital between 1933 and 1946, and they were able to recall their nursing days on the Coast and make a contribution to West Coast history.It has enabled me to rediscover my own nursing story and to gain insight into the conversations that will inspire my nursing, and enable me to hand on stories to other nurses. This thesis will also be of interest to nurses of the future, reflecting on the past and experiencing how it was then