Exhibition: This is Nursing

Two hundred years ago there was no formal nursing education and no guarantee that those calling themselves a nurse had any training, qualification or skills. Today, delivering quality patient care is the job of highly skilled professionals, and all new entrants are required to follow a degree programme.

This new exhibition, using the Royal College of Nursing’s collections, tells the story of innovative nursing education. Meet the remarkable women and men who have fought for better nursing education and discover how learning has evolved alongside the profession’s knowledge and expertise. Learn about the foundation of nursing schools, the creation of a state register of nurses, and how university degrees were first introduced.

The displays include a wide variety of historic nursing equipment and memorabilia, from a collection of nursing uniforms, nurse badges, and a district nurse’s bag and contents from the 1930s to a copy of Elizabeth Hanbury’s 1828 book ‘The Good Nurse – Or Hints on the Management of the Sick and Laying-in Chamber’ and more modern items such as an oral-nasal oxygen mask.