An oral historical study of the development of the discipline of military nursing in Taiwan from 1948 to 1970.
In an attempt to redress the gap in Chinese nursing and military history, this study aims to provide an understanding of the nature of military nursing development from 1948 to 1970. The National Defense Medical Center (NDMC) was established in 1902 and is recognized as the first military medical school in Chinese history. In 1949, in order to continue her studies, Prof. Fu-I Chao followed the school, when it moved from mainland China to Taiwan. The school's move was a result of the defeat on mainland China of the nationalist government led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek. The researchers adopted an oral history approach. This consisted of a literature review, the collection of photographs, a review of formal documents and four face-to-face in-depth interviews with Prof. Chao. After data collection, content analysis was performed on the information collected. The study explored the development of the discipline of military nursing in its historical, social, and economic context. Four themes emerged. These were a personal history of experience and growth, the foundation phase of nursing, the developmental phase of nursing, and the historical developments and trends in nursing. Prof. Chao's comments reveal how the students missed their parents and families, the special friendships among them, and the love and care that they received from Chief Mei-Yu Chow and Director Chih-Teh Loo. Tribute is paid to their resilience in the face of hardship, and their industry during the initial development of the nursing profession. The results also provide the suggestions of creating a history of health-care that privileges new meanings about military nursing's past and worth.
Mu
Pei-Fan
PF
Institute of Clinical Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. peifan@ym.edu.tw
Lin
Shine
S
D049673:History, 20th Century; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000266:history*; D009729:Nursing; D013624:Taiwan