Competing paradigms and the St Luke's Alumnae Association minutes, 1895-1916

This study was designed to explore the relationship between the minutes of the alumnae association of a training school for nurses, from 1895 to 1916, and the occupational evolution of nursing. The members of the St Luke's Alumnae Association, even in their initial statement of purpose, consistently affirmed their ties to other nurses, thus implicitly supporting the cause of trained nursing. But the cause of trained nursing was not the same as that of professional nursing. These findings support the usefulness of the "work group" paradigm vs the paradigm of professionalization in attempting to describe accurately the occupational evolution of nursing as portrayed in the minutes.