VPRS 17592 Nursing Education Course Record Books

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 Education Course Record Books. The volumes cover the years 1915 to 1992 and are most likely the remaining collection of a much larger sequence of records. The series is an artificial collection of volumes that were compiled to only provide a summary record of the students and not generally used to collate any other information such details of their results (beyond pass or fail) or attendance at lectures etc.The training courses represented include: Midwifery; General Nursing; Nursing Aid (later State Enrolled Nurse); Post Basic Theatre; Post Graduate Gynaecology; Family Planning; Reorientation and Midwifery Refreshers. The volumes record summary details of both the hospital's own students and those from other hospitals (e.g. Repatriation General and Austin), who were undertaking the midwifery clinical component of General Nursing at The Royal Women's Hospital.The Nursing Education Course Record Books were compiled by the Nurse Tutors in both exercise books and hard bound volumes produced for other purposes e.g. minute books; the format of information is inconsistent and changed from volume to volume. The first volume which was started in 1915 (information backdated in several entries to 1912) includes summary details for both the paid staff and "probationers" or students.The Record Books generally present the student information within single and double page column formats. These volumes provide the summary details of each course class group or each student, with the volume entries arranged by the students' surnames (not necessarily alphabetical) and date of commencement (either for individual or intake group). Other categories of information which can be recorded includes: date of completion; training school for General Nursing (undergraduate and postgraduate courses); examination certificate reference numbers (General Registration / Practising Certificate / Victorian Nursing Council) date certificate issued for competencies marked by The Royal Women's Hospital; examination or other student results; salary (first volume).Each course group was generally recorded by date of commencement and not conclusion. This methodology is reflected in the Records Description List. The date range given for each volume comprises the first and last intake commencement dates.