Irish Hospitals and Nurses in the 1960's

phil retrospect

Anyone have any idea about nursing in the 1960's in Ireland?
Particularly wanted to know were nurses lay people or were they nuns?
Were nurses trained on the job or were there courses?

WindSock

Hi phil, if you don't get your answer here I suggest trying perhaps the Health Sciences forum.

coddlesangers

Nurses were lay people in the 60's, all the training was on the job.

L1011

phil retrospect wrote: »

Anyone have any idea about nursing in the 1960's in Ireland?
Particularly wanted to know were nurses lay people or were they nuns?
Were nurses trained on the job or were there courses?

Seriously depended on the hospital - many hospitals around the country have either been state-run for a huge amount of time or were Protestant-run and hence no nuns in either. Adelaide, Meath, Rotunda in Dublin, South Infirmary in Cork amongst others were Protestant-run hospitals. Most regional hospitals were state with a few notable exceptions (Drogheda, Clonmel come to mind). Most of the rest of the city hospitals around the country were Catholic-order run.

Any nuns working as nurses in the religious order's hospitals were fully trained, as far as I know there were college style training courses for nurses from the late 19th century but you would get a better answer where Windsock has pointed you.

gipi

The Rotunda wasn't a Protestant-run hospital, it was run by nuns. My former m-in-law worked there in the mid-50s as a nurse, and the work they did was very much under the thumb of the religious order.

I remember her telling me that nurses had to scrub the hospital floors and stairs clean first thing every day, then go to mass, and only then could they have breakfast.

Her experience with the nuns in the Rotunda had such an effect that when her own children were born (late 50s/60s), she refused to have hospital births and had them at home!

I don't think she trained there, I remember seeing certificates from the UK.

L1011

gipi wrote: »

The Rotunda wasn't a Protestant-run hospital, it was run by nuns. My former m-in-law worked there in the mid-50s as a nurse, and the work they did was very much under the thumb of the religious order.

I remember her telling me that nurses had to scrub the hospital floors and stairs clean first thing every day, then go to mass, and only then could they have breakfast.

Her experience with the nuns in the Rotunda had such an effect that when her own children were born (late 50s/60s), she refused to have hospital births and had them at home!

I don't think she trained there, I remember seeing certificates from the UK.

Rotunda is definitely Protestant, to this very day. A Protestant religious order would have been in control, but definitely no nuns.

Holles Street and the Coombe are Catholic.

gipi

Thanks for that, MYOB - I was never aware of any religious influence in the hospital myself, I just recall the stories told by my m-in-law of her time there.

phil retrospect

Thank you all very much for your replies, very appreciated

abused1960

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056764475/irish-hospitals-and-nurses-in-the-1960s

I trained in a Dublin Hospital in the 1960. Regarded as a Protestant hospital. No nuns, all lay staff. We were all trained on the job in the hospital with periods of tutoring in house. To apply you had to have the Irish Leaving Certificate. We paid for our uniform and were paid peanuts. Our in house tutoring meant we had to clean toilets and bathrooms in the nurses home as well as lectures where one of the two tutors took pleasure in insulting student nurses. her name was the same as a popular car starting with an F. The other tutor was no better in her criticism of students standing in the hall way to criticise our uniform going on duty. Her sister was a horrible night sister. We had to live in the Nurses Home until we had completed our training having passed our RGN after three years. If you wanted a Hospital Badge you needed to spend another year at your training hospital. That was a good idea as one gained a lot of confidence having more responsibility as a trained nurse. A lot of the time student nurses were left for periods on a ward totally in charge. We worked split shifts 7-9am, Off 9-12pm or 2-5pm and back on duty until 8pm. It was a very hard training. In my hospital we had a matron who was known all over Dublin for her horrific treatment of staff, from student nurses to sisters. To this day and I'm nearly 80yrs old I hate that woman with a vengeance & the two tutors & her night sister sibling. We also had two tutors who had no respect for us as students and treated us in a condescending and dismissive manner. Found it horrendous, wanted to leave but as I was the eldest in my family felt that was not fair to my most supportive professional parents.Feel so strongly about those people at my training hospital. As I say I am nearly 80yrs old and still feel how those horrible people's treatment of us as student nurses have affected my life. Thank You Ann, Eileen, Angela & Betty for making my life and other students lives HELL. Having said that I've had a wonderful life after I left that hospital. Not all of the staff were like the ones I have commented on.

abused1960

Would like to hear from other nurses who trained in Dublin in the mid 1960s.