RUSH University Medical Center has a long legacy of nursing education, research, and practice reaching back to Chicago’s early years.
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING, est. 1886
St. Luke’s Hospital Training School for Nurses (also known as the School of Nursing) was located, along with its parent hospital, on South Michigan and Indiana avenues in Chicago. The school opened in 1886, and relocated to the site of RUSH’s current campus after the hospital’s merger with Presbyterian Hospital. St. Luke’s graduated its last class in 1959.
Students at St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing experienced a wide variety of clinical roles in wards, private rooms, diet kitchen, pharmacy, distribution and department work in some specialties.
When the first class graduated from the nursing school in 1887, St. Luke’s Hospital was an 84-bed hospital that cared for about 1,000 inpatients annually. It was a charitable institution affiliated with Grace Episcopal Church, and more than half of its patients received their care for free. During the last decade of the hospital’s existence, it annually provided care to more than 16,000 inpatients and approximately $250,000 of free care to patients in need.
PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING, est. 1903
Students from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing completed their classes and clinical work at Presbyterian Hospital on this campus. The first class graduated in 1904, and the final class graduated in 1959, after the school’s merger with St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing.
Students at Presbyterian Hospital performed clinical care throughout their three years of coursework, and they served eight-hour shifts in a variety of areas of practice.
When the first students entered Presbyterian Hospital’s School of Nursing in 1903, the hospital treated about 2,000 patients each year, and a third of those patients received free care. By the 1950s, the hospital admitted more than 13,000 inpatients each year and provided about $150,000 in free care annually to patients in need.
PRESBYTERIAN-ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING, merged 1956
Presbyterian and St. Luke’s hospitals merged in 1956, and their schools of nursing also merged. Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing students attended classes on this campus, and most lived in the Schweppe-Sprague dormitory on Harrison Street. Students continued to identify with their previous school until the first official Presbyterian-St. Luke’s students graduated in 1960. The school’s final class graduated in 1969.
The first two years of the program at Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing included clinical laboratory experience related to coursework. The program culminated in a one-year, full-time internship year that included rotations by medical specialty.
Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital was an 838-bed hospital formed by the merger of Presbyterian and St. Luke’s hospitals in 1956. Each year, it provided more than $1.5 million in free patient care.
RUSH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NURSING and RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER DIVISION OF NURSING
Through the leadership of James A. Campbell, MD, president of RUSH-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, RUSH University was established in 1972. Soon after, Campbell chose Luther Christman, PhD, RN, FAAN, to serve as the founding dean of the College of Nursing. Christman also oversaw nursing practice as the vice president of nursing affairs. He served in these positions at RUSH until his retirement in 1987.
In 1973, the first students were admitted to the RUSH University College of Nursing. The College of Nursing’s curriculum includes a combination of classroom and clinical coursework. Students have rich clinical experiences with adult, children and older adult patients in a variety of health care settings.
Christman was a revolutionary figure who introduced nursing reform and new education standards at every opportunity. He developed the RUSH Model for Nursing and the Professional Nursing Staff at RUSH. These groundbreaking accomplishments are the foundation of RUSH University’s forward-thinking College of Nursing and RUSH University Medical Center’s award-winning nursing staff.
NURSING AT RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER TODAY: A PROMISE OF ENDURING EXCELLENCE
Innovating Patient Care: The nursing staff and students at RUSH University Medical Center employ advanced technology as they evaluate patients and collaborate with other healthcare professionals. Electronic medical record technology monitors and updates clinical information.
Inspiring Future Leaders with Nursing Education: More than 5,000 nurses have graduated from RUSH University’s College of Nursing with degrees at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels.
RUSH offers the following degrees for nursing students, which prepare them for the diverse roles that they will assume as leaders in the future of healthcare:
• The Generalist Entry M.S. in Nursing
• The Clinical Nurse Leader M.S. in Nursing
• DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice): Systems Leadership
• DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice): Enhancing Population Health Outcomes
• PhD in Nursing
Advancing Quality of Care with Research: The Center for Clinical Research and Scholarship was established in 2007 to promote clinical nursing research that improves clinical practice and patient outcomes. The Center supports clinical research and scholarship activities to promote best practices in patient care and improvements in health care delivery.
Magnet Award: The American Nurses Credentialing Center — an independently governed organization within the American Nurses Association — awarded RUSH University Medical Center the four-year Magnet designation in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2016 and 2020. RUSH was the first hospital in Illinois serving both adults and children to achieve Magnet status. The Magnet Award is the highest recognition given for nursing excellence and recognizes RUSH nursing staff for their overall excellence in patient care.
RUSH University Medical Center provides advanced patient care informed by the latest research. U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Hospitals” issue routinely ranks RUSH among the nation’s best in specialties including orthopedics; geriatrics; cancer; ear, nose and throat; gynecology; heart and heart surgery; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; pulmonology; and urology. In addition to its commitment to clinical excellence, RUSH continues its predecessors’ commitment to the health of its community. Each year RUSH provides more than more than $220 million in community benefits and services, including more than $140 million in unreimbursed care to its patients.
.