Nursesʹ occupational health as a driver for curriculum change emphasising health promotion: An historical research study

SummaryBackground s stated for curriculum change in nursing education are usually shifts in knowledge, care delivery, roles, regulatory standards and population health needs. In New Zealand in the 1930s, a curriculum change was driven instead by the need to protect and promote nursesʹ health. Tuberculosis was an international occupational health risk among nurses. Mary Lambie, New Zealandʹs chief nurse, considered nursing a “hazardous profession”. One remedy she instituted was curriculum change in the national nurse training programme to emphasise health promotion among nurses. Global nursing issues today also impact on nursesʹ health. Curriculum changes again address this by promoting self-care and resilience. ive mine how international and national concern for nursesʹ occupational health drove a curriculum change in New Zealand nurse training in the 1930s. ical Research s ational occupational health reports (1930s), Lambieʹs annual reports (1932–1950), and questions and examinersʹ comments in a new state examination (1940s–1950s), were analysed to identify the reasons for and direction of the curriculum change. Findings were interpreted within international and national concerns and measures related to occupational health in nursing. s used the political leverage of international and national worry over tuberculosis as a nursing occupational health risk to protect nursesʹ health more generally. In 1933 she revised the first year of the three-year national nursing curriculum to emphasise personal hygiene and bacteriology related to cross-infection, and in 1938 introduced a State Preliminary Examination at the end of the first year of training to test this knowledge. Analysis of examinations, 1940s–1950s, confirms that the curriculum change driver was a concern to make nursing a less “hazardous profession”. sion educators today should be aware of the variety of factors that can lead to curriculum change in nursing. In addition, concern for nursesʹ health today demonstrates the continuing need for health promotion in nursing curricula.