A HISTORY OF THE EDMONTON GENERAL HOSPITAL: 1895-1970, "BE FAITHFUL TO THE DUTIES OF YOUR CALLING" (NURSING, GREY NUNS, ALBERTA, CANADA).

Description

The purpose of this study was to trace the historical development of the Edmonton General Hospital (EGH) between 1895 and 1970. The focus of this project was on the development of nursing services at that hospital. It was acknowledged from the outset that studying the development of these services could not be done without taking into account other aspects of the history of the EGH including the place it occupied in Edmonton and Alberta. Thus, a concerted effort was made to write a context-bound history as reflected in the selected research questions: How did the role of nurses change at the EGH between 1895 and 1970? What was the impact of the Grey Nuns philosophy on patient care delivery and policy making at the EGH? What evidence is there of the impact of societal events on the EGH between 1895 and 1970? What changes at the EGH, between 1895 and 1970 can be attributed to the influence of federal and/or provincial government policies? What were the effects on the hospital of the link between the Grey Nuns and the Franco-Albertan community? Historical methods were used to answer these questions and primary and secondary data were collected, analyzed and organized into a coherent narrative. The results of this study show that nursing and the roles played by nurses greatly changed over the 76 years under investigation and that the hospital evolved from a family like structure to a large quasi-bureaucratic organization. Evidence also indicates that the Grey Nuns who owned and administered the hospital were resourceful women who had the ability to surpass a multitude of problems and difficulties. The results of this investigation show that the fact that the Grey Nuns were Catholic and primarily French Canadian influenced their outlook on life and the way in which they saw their role in the hospital field. Finally, the results resented in this dissertation show that a number of events and government policies influenced the destiny of the institution.

Subjects