Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/203

187 Extensions of Nursing Field 187 where they were further trained by the miHtary routine. The educational system was largely that of apprenticeship, a training through actual ex- perience, the experience being graded and varied. In religious orders novices were initiated and individually taught and supervised by older nuns. Sometimes a special teacher and supervisor of novices was chosen. But there was probably little organized class teaching except in the form of re- ligious instruction. The disciplinary side of train- ing was strongly emphasized. During the dark ages in nursing, administrative and teaching work for nurses almost died away, and they were kept largely to unskilled household work and had little or no training. With the in- coming of the modern system they were once more trained for executive positions. Miss Nightingale insisted strongly on the importance of good house- keeping and management, and laid special empha- sis on the need of teaching. As a consequence head nurses and assistants again began to fill many responsible posts in hospitals, and were expected not only to manage wards but to teach and super- vise pupils. By degrees many of the former duties of the hospital nurse were turned over to other workers — ordinary housework to maids, cooking to cooks, and, still later, to trained dietitians,