A century of service: the contribution of the RCN to the nursing profession

摘要

On 27 March 2016 the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) celebrated its centenary. Over the last 100 years the RCN has endeavoured to steer the nursing profession, often through stormy waters.The landscape of nursing was very different to that of today when the then College of Nursing was first incorporated as a limited company in 1916, some 3 years before registration of nurses was achieved on 19 December 1919 (RCN, 2016a). Historical beginnings Baly (1995) gave a comprehensive account of the antecedents to the formation of the College: first, the quest by nurses for state registration and second, the concerns of hospital mangers about the shortage of nurses in the country. The campaign for state nurse registration was led by Mrs Bedford Fenwick, the founder of the British Journal of Nursing. However, the Central Committee for the State Registration of Nurses, formed in 1908, was unable to complete its mission because of the impending threat ofWorld War I. It was because of this war, which created an unquenchable demand for nurses on the battlefield, that by 1916 the British War Office had to set up a new committee to resolve the problem. The negotiations were undermined by fierce disputes between various nursing organisations including the British Nursing Association (BNA), which had been founded in4887.lt was the former matron of Guys Hospital in London, Dame Sarah Ann Swift (1854-1937), who first suggested forming an organisation for nurses similar to the colleges of physicians and surgeons (Pearce, 2016). She and Arthur Stanley, the treasurer of St Thomas' Hospital, successfully lobbied the various protagonists and thus the College of Nursing was born. It was registered as a limited company with the board of trade in March 1916.