Brokaw School of Nursing Student Handbook, circa 1976

This pre-1976 nursing student handbook represents just one of many, spanning from the Brokaw Collegiate School of Nursing, 1976-1977, to the Illinois Wesleyan University School of Nursing Student Handbook, 2002-2003, housed in Tate Archives & Special Collections. Reading through a few of these, you can see the changes made over time, which demonstrate the evolution of nursing here at Illinois Wesleyan. The Brokaw handbook is only eight pages, while the one published in 2002 is twenty-eight, which makes sense as there were only twenty-two topics covered within those eight pages: all only having a few sentences underneath them. Over the years, the number of rules and regulations has increased tremendously. Things like clinical and student health policies were not nearly as detailed whereas the development of student employment and internships slowly appeared as the years went on.

The Illinois Wesleyan Nursing Student Handbooks throughout the years reflect the transformation of nursing education from the 19th to the 21st century. The earliest known handbook was published during the Brokaw Collegiate School of Nursing period for the 1976-77 school year. It covered 22 topics within eight pages, each of which was explained in a few sentences. The lack of words on the page suggests that the program was slightly unstructured in the beginning, meaning that the education relied heavily on hands-on learning rather than formal instruction. This being said, there were very few policies on some major topics, like health policies, student responsibilities, and clinicals.

If you would like to know more about life before HIPPA,click here!