U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps University of Cincinnati Accelerated BSN Program: The Quiet Patriotism of Becoming a Nurse, 1943-1946.
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Purpose: This paper examines the United States Cadet Nurse Corps (USCNC) accelerated BSN program at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Nursing from 1943-1946. It gives voice to the 1946 UC BSN graduates’ perspectives and experiences of the accelerated program. How these students’ experience differed and influenced their professional nursing identity and role development will be discussed.
Rationale and Significance: The USCNC accelerated nursing program was initiated to produce a greater number of nurses in a shorter time and provide a workforce for the home front to address the nursing shortage instigated by World War II. The USCNC accelerated program was successful in building the numbers of available nurses for population needs. The UC provides an early exemplar of the use of the accelerated concept for a BSN program; one which has received little historical attention to date. This program provides a lens to view the profession’s current development and use of accelerated BSN programs to address the shortage of BSN-prepared nurses today.
Methodology, Primary and Secondary Sources: This study was carried out using the methods of social history and oral history research. It is a case study of the UC College of Nursing’s accelerated BSN program, 1943-1946. Primary sources used from the following archives, the Carl Blegen Library and Wedbush Centre of the University of Cincinnati, and the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, include board of trustees’ minutes and supporting documents, nursing faculty meeting minutes, annual program reports, letters, school announcements and catalogs, photographs, a diary, and federal documents. Primary source oral histories were also completed on eight of the 1946 graduates. Secondary sources, including historical and contemporary professional journal and newspaper articles, and analytical books on the subject, validated, enhanced, and confirmed findings.
Findings and Conclusions: Every nursing student who entered the BSN program at the UC in August of 1943 arrived unaware they entered an accelerated 3-year or 36-month program. Several students in this cohort later enrolled in the USCNC when it became an option in 1944. Preliminary findings indicate disconnections between the faculty and students, and between the portrayed status of cadets nationwide and the UC cadets. The 1946 graduates who were interviewed felt adequately prepared to practice as a BSN RN post-war after graduating from the accelerated program; although, the faculty pleaded to stop offering the accelerated BSN program months after it began. The 1943-1946 cohort served as the only cohort to earn a BSN following a 3-year program of study. Findings also show that the UC accelerated BSN cohort’s cadet experience differed from the shared experiences of other USCNC cadets. UC cadets thought of themselves and were seen by others as mere UC nursing students and rarely showcased their cadet status. The intense expectations of the accelerated program and the nursing shortage in Cincinnati hospitals provided each cadet and nursing student an opportunity to display quiet patriotism. The chance to serve their country and the desire to become an RN provided students the strong driving force necessary to succeed in this accelerated BSN program.
