The American nursing shortage during World War I: the debate over the use of nurses' aids

This article explores the history of the creation of the Army and Navy Female Nurse Corps and the debate that ensued between American nursing leaders Jane Delano, director of the Red Cross Nursing Service, M. Adelaide Nutting, president of the American Federation of Nurses, and Annie Goodrich, dean of the Army School of Nursing, over the use of untrained nurses' aids to offset the nursing shortage that resulted from the United States entry into the Great War in 1917. The recruitment of minimally or untrained nurses' aids to offset the nursing shortage of the World War I era was a logical solution for American nursing leaders who had to meet the needs for nursing personnel. The exclusion of trained African American nurses, however, was a gross oversight on the part of these leaders. Whether or not this action compromised the status of nursing as a profession is still a matter of interest. Moreover, the debate about the delivery of care by unlicensed personnel continues.