Jane S., Social Change Among Nurses, Gender Stereotyping, and the Development of Gender Roles in the Workplace, HIST 150 Honors Spring 2021, Conducted by Addison Surratt, March 19, 2021.

Introduction to Interview

Nursing has changed immensely over the past 70 years, but what specifically has changed within this vital field of work? In this interview, I dove into the topic more thoroughly as I asked questions of a nurse who worked during the 1950s until her retirement in 2000. Gender roles, stereotypes, changes in technology, and differing education requirements are discussed in the interview. In the 2020s many advancements have been made and, specifically, more opportunities have arisen among both genders within the medical field. Jane S. describes her experience with gender stereotyping and roles within the workplace as well as the dynamic between doctors and nurses. She reveals that, in some cases, the male dominated field of doctors and female dominated field of nurses was simply a way of life and many never thought deeper into the topic. Although this used to be the social norm, times are changing, and Jane S. is one nurse who has lived through the transition. In addition to growing opportunities, she discusses changes among education requirements. She shares that nurses who have been trained in the same way as herself have become few and far between. With the growing need for a university degree, nurses can no longer become certified through a three year training program. Though the field of nursing still has a common purpose which is to aid patients back to health, the ways in which nurses can complete this task are becoming more abundant. Jane S. leaves listeners with a final take away message which is how meaningful and significant the field of nursing was to her and that she would encourage anyone who would like to enter into this career to take their shot at it.

Biography

Jane S. was a labor and delivery nurse. She attended nursing school in Rockingham County, Virginia beginning in 1951 where she trained to be a nurse until she graduated in 1954. Jane S. answers questions regarding her experience with training to be a nurse, nursing stereotypes, and the evolution of nursing within the hospitals at which she worked. She started her career working at a hospital in Harrisonburg, VA and afterward worked at several other hospitals throughout the Shenandoah Valley. In 1957, she relocated and worked in Richmond, VA. After her time in Richmond, she moved back to the Shenandoah Valley in 1967 where she remained until her retirement in 2000.

Transcription

Addison Surratt 0:00
I’ll start the recording. And we can get started. So, um, what type of schooling or training did you have to go through to become a nurse.

Jane S. 0:11
I went to Rockingham Memorial School of Nursing [In the state of Virginia], and it was a three year program and I was able to go at an early age at 17, which they normally didn’t take you unless you were 18. But I did make the grade and I tested. So I continued on that three years training there. And also took two classes at Madison College, [which became known as James Madison University in 1977] which was in sociology and chemistry.

Addison Surratt 0:45
Okay. So what were your reasons for becoming a nurse?

Jane S. 0:51
I had a cousin who had gone into nursing, and I grew up with a loving parents that were always generous to help other people. And so with that, in mind, wanted to be a service to people. And I felt like nursing was a good way to do that.

Addison Surratt 1:11
Okay, yeah, definitely. Could you give a brief description of what you did in your job and what the requirements and responsibilities were for you as a nurse?

Jane S. 1:25
Well, to start with, they started us off, just doing a split shift, in order to get acquainted with the patients better. The morning hours, we worked a seven to 11, three to seven, in order to take care of the needs of the patient. And we enjoyed doing that. To me, that was gratifying, and I enjoyed that. And we took care of the patients, we watched out for them. As students, we we worked eight hour days, we did that all through the nurses training. And they had that set up on the basis that we had our studies, and then we had our work. And for periods of time, they would give us a break. But it was gratifying to go on duty and take care of the patients, and we knew that, they would express their needs to us. And we could serve them when they were at a time that they really needed someone’s comforting words and care. And we gave back rubs, that was back in the days when we gave back rubs to all the patients every evening. We served them nourishment, then we gave them their medications. What we were allowed to give after we were supervised. The day was set aside as the day to take care of all the needs of the patients, and then we also had extra duties, which I don’t think they [meaning the nurses who work in the field in today’s age] have today having to sterilize bed pans and equipment and things like that. And serve nourishments from our diets kitchen, and that was back in the older days. You took care of all the patients needs.

Addison Surratt 3:30
Right. So did you enjoy that?

Jane S. 3:34
I did. It was gratifying to go around and help these people when they really could not help themselves. As time progressed and we got into the different areas I enjoyed doing that too. We had different phases from nursing pre clinical days to the days that we went into our special services, and we had the doctors giving us classes. And we affiliated in our psychiatric training. That was after we were older. Into our third year. We affiliated Delaware State Hospital for psychiatry, but I enjoyed doing the obstetrical part. I loved labor and delivery. Seeing a baby come into the world was exciting for me, and that was my choice after I graduated. [The nurse being interviewed chose to work in the labor and delivery unit]

Addison Surratt 4:39
Right. Yeah. So you said that, um, you kind of gave a description of like, the schooling that you did and you said that you started out young at 17. How old were you when you stopped all schooling and just worked as a nurse?

Jane S. 4:58
As a graduate? I went in [entered the nursing program] in 1951 and graduated in June of 1954.

Addison Surratt 5:09
Okay, so, could you tell me what age you would have been?

Jane S. 5:15
Let’s see, I guess. [laughter ensues]

Addison Surratt 5:19
Or a range

Jane S. 5:21
I guess I was 20.

Addison Surratt 5:23
Okay. All right. Very nice. Um, were the nurses that worked alongside you like your co workers- were they predominantly male or female?

Jane S. 5:37
They, they were all female. At that time, there were very few male nurses, especially in this area, [Rockingham County Virginia/Harrisonburg region], but all of them [other nurses] were females.

Addison Surratt 5:51
Okay. And how about-

Jane S. 5:52
We had orderlies that took care of the male patients, but they were not nurses.

Addison Surratt 6:02
Okay. Could you describe that job a little bit? What was the difference?

Jane S. 6:07
You know- for the orderlies?

Addison Surratt 6:09
Yes

Jane S. 6:10
Okay, they would bathe the inpatients, and if the patient had to go to the bathroom or use the urinal, they took care of all their needs. And I guess, they also shaved them if they were unable to do it themselves. But other than that, the nurses took care of the others. Nurses could bathe the male patients, but we would call the orderlies in to do their private parts.

Addison Surratt 6:40
Okay, gotcha. Um, so you said that the nurses were predominantly female? What about the doctors or other medical staff that were in different positions?

Jane S. 6:54
Most of them or male doctors, I don’t recall any female doctors down there [Harrisonburg, Virginia region] at that time. After I graduated and went on to other jobs, I worked at McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond when we moved over there in 1967. And we had almost all male attendants there.

Addison Surratt 7:29
Okay.

Jane S. 7:30
One charge nurse, and then the male attendant.

Addison Surratt 7:35
Okay, that makes sense. So do you feel that the differences in gender among the doctors and nurses, doctors being predominantly male nurses being predominantly female, had an effect on the environment that you worked in?

Jane S. 7:56
I really don’t. I think, at that time, in that age era, you know, it was mostly all male doctors, and people just accepted that. And I don’t think there was a real problem with it. As far as the nursing, after I moved to Richmond, as I said, in 1967, we had male nurses there. So as time progressed, you know, you would have female doctors and also male nurses that you work with.

Addison Surratt 8:39
Right. Okay.

Jane S. 8:42
Of course, that worked out well, too. But I think it was just the period, that it was all male doctors during the time when I was in nurses training. Now that was just in Harrisonburg. Beyond that, I don’t know, in other big cities, I’m sure that they’re probably worse female [doctors].

Addison Surratt 9:04
Right. Okay. Um, do you feel that there were nursing stereotypes in your day when you became a nurse? Or did you experience any stereotypes that are traditional to being a nurse?

Jane S. 9:23
No, not really. Everybody worked together and think it was just a genuinely nice environment. Each person took care of their own particular job description, and everybody worked together good.

Addison Surratt 9:45
Okay. That’s good. Okay. So, I’m going to move on to a little bit of a different topic which would be how, in your opinion-and it doesn’t have to be anything that specific-but how do you think nursing has changed from when you were a nurse and nurses today?

Jane S. 10:12
Well, I think nursing has changed a great deal, which is for the good, because nurses at that time [the time period in which the interviewee was a nurse- 1950s-1970s range] we scrubbed floors and had to things like that all the necessary things that had to be done for that unit, we had to do it, we washed dishes in the diet kitchen, we would resterilize all the things that had to be sterilized. With medications, we had some medications that came in tablets, the pain medicines, with a Bunsen burner and a teaspoon. We heated the water to draw up these pain medications, you don’t have to do that today. It’s been as far as the medications and things that you can give, it comes already prepared in little vials and things of that nature. Nursing, in my opinion, has become more organized and, I guess, more complete with the inventions of different things that you can use. And also like your code carts and things that that you have on hand. At that point, when I was in nurses training, it was more primitive. You had to get all your stuff together, you know, when you’d go to patients. So there’s things that are more modern now and has made life a little bit easier. And also, our three year students, which I was, are sort of phased out, that’s one of the college girls told me years ago, she said, three nurses are going to be phased out as far as the education, but not as far as they’re working and experiencing- their nursing skills.

Addison Surratt 12:07
Right. That makes sense?

Well, um, that was the last question I had for you. If you would like to add anything, you can feel free to do so. But you don’t have, you know, you know, you’re not pressured to do that.

Jane S. 12:24
Well I felt that nursing was the one thing in my life that I really enjoyed doing. Before I went into high school, I called the director of nurses to get information for what credits that I needed in school in order to go into nurses training. So it was dwelled in my heart three years before I ever went into nursing and I have always loved my job. I love the work and especially in labor and delivery, which was the things that I really chose to do. And it’s always been gratifying to me to always be there, and to be of help to someone. And to see a baby born into this world was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen in my life, and that has continued on in my work on up until 2000 when I retired, and I loved it. I love nursing. I think it’s a gratifying, noble profession, and I would recommend it for any girl.

Addison Surratt 13:42
Yeah, that’s great. Well, thank you so much for answering all these questions. I’ll go ahead and stop the recording now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

 

Background Research

I used three sources to conduct background research regarding the interview topic. The first source describes how nursing originated and who the major figures were who brought this field into society. It discusses what improvements have been made to the field overtime and who laid the groundwork for those changes. This helped me build a better understanding of the purpose behind nursing from the beginning, and it bettered my understanding of how nursing may have changed from the beginning versus when my interviewee entered the field in the 1950s. In the second source a pediatric nurse was interviewed and she discussed what education she needed for nursing, how she came to be a nurse, and what her job means. This gave me more knowledge regarding what training was required for her and allowed me to compare this to the training of the woman I interviewed. The third source discusses how the practice of nursing has changed for men and women and what these changes mean to society. I think these all have an impact and influence on what questions I delve into during my interview.

 

Research Bibliography

Interview with Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Mary Beth Petraco, Bestnursingdegree, 7 Mar. 2011,www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTKGW_F5ztg&feature=emb_logo. 

“The Evolution of Nursing.” National Women’s History Museum, National Women’s History Museum, 16 June 2010, www.womenshistory.org/articles/evolution-nursing. 

The History of Nursing, www.nursingschoolhub.com/history-nursing/#:~:text= The History of Nursing 1 Beginnings, at the rise of modern nursing.  (Links to an external site.)

 

Follow Up Commentary

I shared the transcript with the interviewee on March 24, 2021, and she approved it. Jane S. gave me some feedback and information regarding her career as a nurse and where she transferred after completing school and leading up to her retirement.

To record the interview, I called my interviewee on her cell phone, and put her on speaker phone. I recorded the conversation using the Voice Memo app on my computer and transcribed it using Otter AI software.

When editing the transcript, I went through the Otter AI generated transcription and edited names of each speaker using my name and the interviewee’s pseudonym. To format the transcription correctly, I placed brackets around information that appeared in the conversation that may be unclear to readers or listeners. The brackets included information that spoke to geographical clarification, personal information that a reader may not already understand, and changes in the inter.