Order and Cleanliness: The Gendered Role of Operating Room Nurses in the United States (1870s–1930s)

摘要

This paper looks at the history of operating room nurses in the light of the history of nursing and the history of surgery at a time of change in both domains. Geographically, its focus is on the United States as a national context where the specialization in this field occurred early on. The examination of instructional literature, e.g., textbooks, provides insight into the normative universe of the American operating rooms at the time. It shows how nurses played an integral, yet often overlooked part in the development of modern surgical practices. At the same time, operating room nurses were confined to a very gender-specific sphere of activities – they were basically responsible for cleanliness and maintaining order – and they were strictly subordinated to the operating surgeon’s authority. Operating room nursing thus offered a new field of professional activity for women while simultaneously reproducing and cementing contemporary gender roles.