Nursing embodies the seemingly timeless characteristics of feminine healing, caring and nurturing, yet this archetypally female vocation also boasts a distinctive and complex history. Bedside Matters traces four generations of Canadian nurses to explore changes in who became nurses, what work they performed, and how they organized to defend their occupational interests. Whether in the apprenticeship method of the early twentieth century or in the present day restructuring of hospital work, the position of nurses within the health-care system has been structured by class, gender, and ethnic and racial relations. Located between the doctors and untrained or subsidiary patient-care attendants, nurses have struggled to define the boundaries of their occupation vis a vis other members of the health-care hierarchy, even as tensions between bedside and administrative nurses created divisions within nursing itself. Focusing on the daily labours of 'ordinary nurses', McPherson argues that the persisting sex-typing of nursing as women's work has meant that gender consistently complicated nursing's easy categorization as either professional or proletariat. Combining archival records and oral histories, the author shows how nurses, in their work, activities, and social and sexual attitudes, sought recognition as skilled workers in the health-care system.

Bedside Matters (Canadian Social History)

History

McPherson, Kathryn

Americas

OUP Canada

Nursing embodies the seemingly timeless characteristics of feminine healing, caring, and nurturing, yet this archetypally female vocation also boasts a distinctive and complex history. Bedside Matters traces four generations of Canadian nurses to explore changes in who became nurses, what work they performed, and how they organized to defend their occupational interests. Whether in the apprenticeship method of the early twentieth century or in the present day restructuring of hospital work, the position of nurses within the health-care system has been structured by class, gender, and ethnic and racial relations. Located between the doctors and untrained or subsidiary patient-care attendants, nurses have struggled to define the boundaries of their occupation vis à vis other members of the health-care hierarchy, even as tensions between bedside and administrative nurses created divisions within nursing itself.
Focusing on the daily labours of 'ordinary nurses', McPherson argues that the persisting sex-typing of nursing as women's work has meant that gender consistently complicated nursing's easy categorization as either professional or proletariat. Combining archival records and oral histories, the author shows how nurses, in their work, activities, and social and sexual attitudes, sought recognition as skilled workers in the health-care system.
Previously published by Oxford University Press

Bedside Matters: The Transformation of Canadian Nursing, 1900-1990 (Canadian Social History Series)

University of Toronto Press

When first-time mothers talk about their experiences breastfeeding their babies, the most frequent comment is: I had no idea it was going to be so difficult. While nursing is natural, it is by no means instinctive, and initial attempts are often fraught with anxiety, pain, exhaustion, and the fear of failure. Establishing a successful nursing relationship depends on a woman's high degree of motivation and the availability of a support system offering her encouragement and information. To this end, The Reality of Breastfeeding, is an inspiring anthology of thematically arranged first-hand accounts by nursing mothers. It provides a community of stories about breastfeeding that mothers can consult as past generations may have consulted mothers, grandmothers, and aunts.
The 50 narratives in this unique compilation address a wide range of issues concerning nursing, such as problems establishing breastfeeding, reconciling working and breastfeeding, social and cultural discouragement of the practice, and deciding when to wean―even coming to terms with unsuccessful attempts to nurse and making peace with bottle feeding. The book is utterly frank in its confrontation of the sometimes intractable problems of sore nipples, mastitis, and yeast infections, and in its discussions of the ambivalent emotions expereinced by fathers, other family members, and the mothers themselves. A table of contents featuring brief summaries of the narratives and an index make it easy for readers to find stories about particular problems they may be facing, and a bibliography provides suggestions for further reading. Neither an advice book, nor a piece of propaganda, nor a scientific study, The Realities of Breastfeeding tells vital stories―sometimes heartwrenching, sometimes joyful―on a human scale.

The Reality of Breastfeeding: Reflections by Contemporary Women

Brown, Amy B.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Praeger

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Books by McPherson, Kathryn