Using a Nursing History Web Site With Today’s Nursing Students

Abstract

Recognizing the importance of nursing history, an interdisciplinary team at Appalachian State University created a North Carolina Nursing History Web site (http://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/). The Web site can be used for teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing and other health professions students. One learning activity using the Web site involved the use of the historical timeline. In small groups, students compared historical and political events affecting nursing by decades at the local, state, and national levels. Students identified events that shaped nursing and hypothesized about future events. In a second activity, students viewed the A Century of Caring video and in group format discussed issues related to nursing and historical racial, cultural, and ethnic disparities within the profession. There is a need for other states to digitally archive their own nursing history for the profession and for educational opportunities.