As a result, nursing schools increased their enrollments, and several new programs were developed. .
In 1920 a study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and known as the Goldmark Report recommended that schools of nursing be independent of hospitals and that students no longer be exploited as cheap labor. Following the publication of this report, several university schools of nursing were opened. (Carruthers, 2001, 1).
During the depression of the 1930s, many nurses were unemployed, and the number of schools declined. World War II, however, brought about another increased demand for nurses. The Cadet Nurse Corps, established in 1943, subsidized nursing education for thousands of young people who agreed to engage in nursing for the duration of the war. .
Since the end of World War II, technological advances in medicine and health have required nurses to become knowledgeable about sophisticated equipment, to learn about an increasing number of medications, and to design nursing care appropriate for the health care delivery system during a period of rapid change. (Carruthers, 2001, 1).
Nurses Needed .
A shortage of trained and experienced nurses has become a serious problem for Florida Hospital, ORMC long-term care institutions, and a critical problem for some. The present nurse shortage, however, is only an early warning sign of a public health catastrophe that looms ahead, starting eight to 10 years from now. .
According to Hickling (2001), there will be so few nurses able and willing to provide bedside care that hospitals and nursing homes may be compelled to cut back their services. And the situation will keep getting worse, until hospitals may be forced to turn away all but the most critically ill patients. .
Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system. In hospitals, doctors diagnose, prescribe and perform surgery. Nurses provide the treatment they order. Physicians check on their patient's daily or more often, but the lives of critically ill and post-surgery patients depend on the 24-hour-a-day presence of nurses, and on their skill, experience and vigilance.
