How Being a Nurse Has Changed in the Last 50 Years

nurses 1971 — Here's how being a nurse is different now than it was 50 years ago. Harold Barkley/Getty Images

2020-05-06T17:30:00.000Z

Nurses Appreciation Week, which is from May 6 to 12, calls attention to the important role nurses and nursing staff play in the US and around the globe. To mark the start of the international week of recognition, Business Insider looked at some of the biggest changes to the nursing industry in the last five decades.

Fifty years ago, doctors still treated nurses as assistants, and the role was seen as an extension of women's caregiving instead of as a career. The role required less formal education, and nurses had just a "rudimentary" understanding of scientific medical care, according to Minority Nurse.

Today, nursing makes up the largest workforce in healthcare — and continues to grow as America's baby boomer population ages. Nurses can attain various higher education certifications and degrees, and can be highly specialized in new fields like forensic nursing and informatics. Now, they're on the frontlines of the world's coronavirus pandemic, risking their lives to help others in dire medical need.

Here's a visual look at some of the ways nursing has changed in the last 50 years.

Today, nurses make up the largest workforce in healthcare, and is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country.

Source: Fast Company, Bureau of Labor Statistics

While considered a prestigious profession today, nurses in the 1960s were "treated as handmaidens of physicians" who were expected to carry out orders without question.

Source: Advisory Board

Even 20 years ago, nurse practitioner Kelley Rieger recalls having to climb over patients to perform CPR in a skirt and tights.

Source: Fast Company

Today, nursing requires extensive training and education.

Nurses told Business Insider reporter Lyndsey Reid the most common way to become a nurse is to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. Programs like the BSN help prepare prospective nurses pass the NCLEX-RN exam, a six-hour long standardized test administered nationwide.

From there, nurses must obtain a state license to become a registered nurse. Nurses can then get a master's degree to get more specialized roles, or a doctorate if they wish to teach or do research.

Source: Business Insider, Learn How to Become

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing — the organization that administers national testing — was not even around until 1978. Only 172 college-based nursing programs existed in 1960, compared to the more than 674 bachelor's programs today.

Source: Nurse.org, American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Nurse uniforms have undergone drastic changes over the last 50 years. White dresses with caps and stockings used to be standard in the industry.

Source: Dequesne University School of Nursing

Starting in the 1980s, nurses began wearing scrubs. Scrubs are easy to move in, inexpensive, and can be easily washed and re-used.

Source: Dequesne University School of Nursing

Nurses also had to care for patients for much longer periods of time than today. Thirty years ago, a cataract surgery patient would stay in the hospital for seven days...

Source: The University of Vermont Medical Center

Today, that same patient leaves the day of the surgery. Shorter stays mean nurses must be more efficient about educating and caring for patients.

Source: The University of Vermont Medical Center

Record keeping also became more efficient than it was 50 years ago. After the US government allocated $19.2 billion to increase the use of electronic health records in 2009, digital notes have become commonplace.

Source: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners

Diversity within the field has also increased. Until the 1960s, many hospitals were divided by color. In 1971, the National Black Nurses Association was founded to improve working conditions for black nurses.

Source: Minority Nurse, National Black Nurses Association

More men are entering the profession. As of 2017, about 19% of registered nurses were minorities and 9.1% were men...

Source: The National Nursing Workforce Study

...but a gender pay gap still exists among male and female nurses, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The roles of (registered nurses) are expanding with implementation of the Affordable Care Act and emphasis on team-based care delivery," authors of the study stated. "These results may motivate nurse employers, including physicians, to examine their pay structures and act to eliminate inequities."

Source: Fast Company, The Journal of the American Medical Association

Nurses are on the front lines of the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

SEATTLE, WA - MARCH 17: Nurses process a sample for COVID-19 after a patient was screened at an appointment-only, drive-up clinic set up by the University of Washington Medical Center Northwest Outpatient Medical Center on March 17, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. The clinic was set up to provide additional screening capacity, support personal protective equipment conservation efforts and help reduce the number of patients entering healthcare facilities for testing during the coronavirus outbreak. (Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Nurses all over the world are crucial in the battle against the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19. They continue to treat patients despite shortages of medical equipment, lack of guidance from hospitals, and grueling hours.

The shortage of nurses is so bad that retired nurses are being asked to come back into the workforce. A former health official for President Obama recently went as far as to propose another solution to the nurse staffing crisis amid the pandemic: Pay them $5,000 in monthly bonuses.

One nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, recently described a particularly difficult shift treating COVID-19 patients in New York City, one of the country's hot spots for the virus:

"I kept having these little moments of tearing up. I'm not totally sure why, but I think it's a combination of how surreal, overwhelming, unfair, and unpredictable it all feels," they told Business Insider. "And it's horrifying to think we're not even close to the peak."

THEN AND NOW: Here's how being a nurse has changed in the last 50 years

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

THEN AND NOW: Here's how being a nurse has changed in the last 50 years

Today, nurses make up the largest workforce in healthcare, and is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country.

While considered a prestigious profession today, nurses in the 1960s were "treated as handmaidens of physicians" who were expected to carry out orders without question.

Even 20 years ago, nurse practitioner Kelley Rieger recalls having to climb over patients to perform CPR in a skirt and tights.

Today, nursing requires extensive training and education.

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing — the organization that administers national testing — was not even around until 1978. Only 172 college-based nursing programs existed in 1960, compared to the more than 674 bachelor's programs today.

Nurse uniforms have undergone drastic changes over the last 50 years. White dresses with caps and stockings used to be standard in the industry.

Starting in the 1980s, nurses began wearing scrubs. Scrubs are easy to move in, inexpensive, and can be easily washed and re-used.

Nurses also had to care for patients for much longer periods of time than today. Thirty years ago, a cataract surgery patient would stay in the hospital for seven days...

Today, that same patient leaves the day of the surgery. Shorter stays mean nurses must be more efficient about educating and caring for patients.

Record keeping also became more efficient than it was 50 years ago. After the US government allocated $19.2 billion to increase the use of electronic health records in 2009, digital notes have become commonplace.

Diversity within the field has also increased. Until the 1960s, many hospitals were divided by color. In 1971, the National Black Nurses Association was founded to improve working conditions for black nurses.

More men are entering the profession. As of 2017, about 19% of registered nurses were minorities and 9.1% were men...

...but a gender pay gap still exists among male and female nurses, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nurses are on the front lines of the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Read next

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know