| Formal nursing education began as apprenticeship-type training in hospital schools of nursing in which nursing students provided the majority of patient care. The hospital schools were governed by physicians and hospital administrators, and as long as nursing education remained in this setting, nurses were ensconced in subordinate positions within the patriarchal society of medicine and the hospital. In order for nursing to break free of this restrictive relationship and into self-governance, nursing education needed to move out of the hospitals and into collegiate settings.;The major research questions for this study were as follows: To what extent did nurse veterans' use of G. I. Bill educational benefits following World War II influence the movement of nursing education into colleges and universities? Did the availability of these benefits provide nurse veterans the means to escape the nursing's patriarchal relationship with medicine? My hypothesis of the findings was that this increased access to educational funding did bring more nurses into institutions of higher education seeking bachelors and masters degrees, thereby legitimizing nursing education's place in academia and providing them with more options for practice which would bring about more independence for them and for the profession of nursing.;Archival research was conducted at two types of schools of nursing: one hospital school of nursing and one university school of nursing, as well as in the professional literature published during the time studied. Data was analyzed within the framework of the patriarchal relationships present between physicians and nurses and the gendered organization of the mid-twentieth century hospital and hospital school of nursing.;The findings of the study show that nurse veterans did use G. I. Bill funds to attend colleges and universities for degrees in public health nursing. This field of nursing was not traditionally a part of hospital-based diploma programs, and therefore provided additional knowledge and skills. The specialty of public health also provided increased independence and autonomy of practice not experienced in hospital based care, which allowed nurses to practice in an environment less governed by physician paternalism.;Keywords: Nurse Veterans, G. I. Bill, Female Veterans, Nursing Education, World War II. |
