Negotiating Nursing

Join Dr Jane Brooks as she discusses the working conditions for nurses on active service during the Second World War.

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Since the days of Florence Nightingale, nurses have known that good patient care relies on creating places of safety and calm for recuperation. However, during the Second World War, nurses faced many constraints, having to make the best out of tents, converted hotels, schools and huts across various far-flung regions of Europe, Africa and Asia.

In this insightful talk, Dr Jane Brooks will explore the conditions under which the military nurses of the Second World War worked to support the recovery of their soldier patients. She will consider the harsh environments across the globe and the continual struggle with insects, vermin, disease, malnutrition, often while under fire. 

Dr Brooks will also highlight these nurses’ ability to improvise, innovate and manipulate their surroundings into habitable places for health and healing. 

About Dr Jane Brooks

Jane Brooks, PhD, RN is a senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Manchester. She is proud to support a range of nursing history associations across the globe. 

For nearly a decade, her research has focused on nursing in the Second World War. Along with Christine Hallett, she was the 2015 recipient of the American Association for the History of Nursing’s Mary M Roberts Award for the edited book 'One Hundred Years of Wartime Nursing Practices'. She has published extensively on nursing work on active service overseas and on the Home Front.