Kingston General Hospital nurses: who were they?
Applicants to the school were often inspired to become nurses by nursing-themed books and toys, relatives or friends in nursing, and improved employment options. Kingston General Hospital nurses were a reasonably homogeneous lot: most were English-speaking Protestant women of British descent from eastern Ontario. Although the Hospital approved the enrolment of male nursing students as early as 1899, it was not until 1972 that the first and only man graduated. Nursing Students, 1906. Image: KGH Archives Curriculum & working conditions for Student Nurses A programme of work and study. Nursing students trained in the hospital as apprentices, combining studies with practical experience on the wards. They also provided the hospital with its principal nursing workforce — some critics described it as indentured service. Over time, as medical technology evolved and nursing support staff increased, nursing science courses replaced some of the traditional nursing tasks such as cleaning and bed
