Medical and nursing education in the nineteenth century: comparisons and comments

In the mid-nineteenth century, apprenticeship in medicine, as described by the novelist Mrs Gaskell gradually gave way to a more scientific model. This transition was characterised by a greater theoretical emphasis in the medical curriculum with less clinical practice. Reform of medical schools was however 'patchy', and there was no harmonisation of curricula or examinations until the end of the century. Against this background, nursing was concomitantly struggling to emerge as a distinctive profession. Prototype schools of nursing were established in hospitals after 1860, in which teaching was conducted by Resident Medical Officers and the Matrons. Comparisons between the evolution of medical and nursing education are drawn with reference to admission criteria; curricular models; examinations and outcomes. Underpinning these issues, the questions of the quality of education for medical and nursing students, and the relationship of medical to nursing knowledge, are discussed.