Rush Archives Blog

From the Rush Archives: Celebrating National Nurses Week (May 6-12)

This National Nurses Week, learn more about primary nursing – a working philosophy that was adopted by Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center* in 1972.

-Post contributed by Rush Archives Work Study Student Kirsten Petrarca, Doctoral Student in Audiology, Rush University.

Primary nursing allocates one nurse to each individual patient from admission until discharge with the goal of fostering patient-centered care. In addition to monitoring patients and fulfilling patient needs, primary nursing also places the nurse in the role of “advocate” for the patient.

To learn more about the implementation of primary nursing at Rush, explore the Spring 1978 issue of Rush’s The Magazine**, which was devoted to “Primary Nursing: A Working Philosophy, An Organizational Style":

https://archive.org/details/magazinerushpres1978rush/page/2/mode/2up

Click on the image to view the special Primary Nursing issue of The Magazine from 1978:

Did you know? National Nurses Week ends on May 12, the birthday of famed nurse and researcher Florence Nightingale.

Want to learn more about the history of Rush or the Rush Archives collections? Explore the Rush Archives website, or contact the archivist, Nathalie Wheaton, MSLS.

*Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center was renamed Rush University Medical Center in 2003, to better reflect its status as a leading academic research center. 

**From the The Magazine, Spring 1978, The Magazine of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center Collection, #4730, Rush University Medical Center Archives, Chicago, Ill.