VPRS 17593 Nursing Education Student Application Registers

Administrative History on Nursing Education: In circa 1859, Melbourne-Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children (now The Royal Women's Hospital) commenced training in midwifery nursing. The Hospital established a formal three months certificate course in 1862 and a Gynaecology course in 1888. Up until 1993, these two training schemes were the platform of the nursing education programme; throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, midwifery and gynaecology training was extended, shortened, and re-shaped, to cope with the hospital's exigencies and changing government regulations. The Women's became a centre for general nursing training during the 1940s and 1950s. This course had an emphasis in gynaecological nursing, but also included an external placement with another hospital, for the students to extend their training and experience in other areas of nursing. A range of other training courses were conducted or facilitated by the hospital, responding to advancements in medical technology. These included: Neonatal Paediatrics; Cytotoxic Drug Therapy; Family Planning etc. The Kathleen Syme Education Centre at The Royal Women's Hospital school closed in 1993 when the nursing courses in Midwifery, Gynaecology and Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing became university postgraduate qualifications rather than hospital based courses. Series Description: This series comprises the Nursing Student Application Registers. The majority of the Student Application Registers were compiled by the nursing administration in commercially produced registers (1904 to 1990); this series also includes later informal examples, compiled by course administrators in exercise books for postgraduate courses (Gynaecology and Neonatal Paediatrics). In all the volumes each student's details are recorded in a double or single page column format and the entries were arranged according to date of application and class group (latter volumes). These records are the only extant summary record of the students who undertook these courses. The training courses represented in these volumes include: Midwifery; Gynaecology (undergraduate and post graduate) and General Nursing. The Royal Women's Hospital offered its own General Nursing course from 1940 until circa 1953. This index includes applications of both the hospital's own General Nursing students and those from other hospitals (e.g. Repatriation General), who undertook their gynaecology component at this specialist hospital. The commercially produced registers from 1904 to 1971 hold the same column headings: Date of Application; Name of Applicant; Address; Training School (name of hospital the nurse did General Nursing if postgraduate course); Age; Religion; Department (name of department conducting the course e.g. Midwifery); Received Certificate (date issued by The Royal Women's Hospital); Remarks (date completed or resigned, sick leave, etc). By the end of 1950 the register entries all relate to the postgraduate midwifery course. The last two volumes, comprising applications from 1958 to 1990, have been modified to accommodate new information including the date of each Midwifery class intake group. The column headings modified are: "Age" was changed to "Date of Birth"; Department became M. R. / P. R. (unknown and not used in the last volume); "Received Certificate" became "MED" (medical certificate) and "X Ray" (for Tuberculosis); "Remarks" became "Practising Certificate Number" and "R.W.H Badge (Silver) Number". The requirement for new applicants to produce X-Rays and medical certificates ceased in 1974. This series also includes the exercise books used to register applications for the postgraduate Gynaecology and Neonatal Paediatrics courses. In these volumes the registration entries are generally arranged according to commencing date of each class group. The column headings include the following information: Name; Application Sent (date); Returned (date); Accepted (date); Confirmed (date); Commencement (date); Remarks. Researchers can access the student applications from 1 January 1934 to 22 May 1949, held in Units 2 and 3, through VPRS 17590 Nursing Student Application Index. The student's surnames and register page numbers are arranged alphabetically under each letter category. This index refers to a subsequent volume which no longer exists. The only remaining example of student application forms for a nursing course at The Royal Women's is VPRS 17586 General Nursing Course Student Applications. These records are controlled by VPRS 17590 and VPRS 17593.