Malinda Richards

Pioneer For Nurse Education

First American Trained Nurse
Presented By:
Kristen McWilliams &
John Schurer
Malinda Richards
July 27, 1841 – April 16, 1930
 Timeline
Born July 27, 1841 in West Potsdam, NY

Parents Sanford Richards & Betsy Sinclair Richards

Christened as Malinda Ann Judson Richards

Moved to WI at age 4 but returned to Newbury, VT shortly thereafter

Nurse training began under family doctor Doc Currier who cared for her
mother

Enrolled at St. Johnsbury Academy at age 15 for teacher training

 Timeline Cont’d
Met and became engaged to George Poole in 1860

1869- moved to Boston to work at Boston City Hospital

 1870- signed up for nurse-training program at the New England Hospital

for Women & Children

Linda was the first student to enroll and first student to graduate from
nursing program

After graduating she became night supervisor at Bellevue Hospital in

NYC

Created first written reporting system for charting and recording patient
records
 Timeline Cont’d
1874- took over Boston School of Training – made it the best program

1877- traveled to England for seven months of intensive study

1878- returned to Boston and established a nurse training school

1886- established the first nurse-training program in Japan

Additional nurse training programs established in Philadelphia,

Massachusetts and Michigan
 First American Training School for
Nurses

Dr. Susan Dimock took charge to reform training of American nurses

New England Hospital for Women & Children

First class consisted of five students including Linda Richards

Work was very different then from what it is now

Days started at 5:30AM and ended at 9:00PM

Beds were in little rooms between wards

 First American Training School for
Nurses Cont’d

Program was one year long

Training in medical, surgical and obstetrical nursing

Instruction very limited – only 12 lectures given by visiting staff

physicians

Bedside or practical instruction performed by interns

Names of medications given were not known

No text-books, entrance or final examinations

 First American Training School for
Nurses Cont’d

Diplomas were quietly handed out to graduates

Student nurses were not treated with respect nor highly thought of

With all the knowledge available from physicians, very little training
provided during this program
Japan (1885-1890)
 Japan (1885-1890)

In February 1885, a colleague suggest she joins an effort by the

American Board of Missions to establish a nursing school in Japan.

She accepted in August 1885, and was departed for Japan in December
1885.

First memories and great impression on her- Mt. Fuji and Rikshaw
 Japan (1885-1890)

First few months in Japan she spent learning Japanese

Gains notoriety for her efforts during a cholera outbreak, great reward for
little work.
 Japan (1885-1890)-School
Establishment
School Teaching Staff

John C. Berry, MD

Sara Buckley, MD

Japanese Physicians (PRN)

Malinda Richards, America's First Trained Nurse

 Japan (1885-1890)-School
Establishment
Challenges to Instruction

Medical textbooks were American books

Anatomy & Physiology books were Cutler's Physiology books translated

into Japanese

Nurse lectures carried out with assistance of interpreter

Richards found dietetics challenging due to cultural and food

preferences of the Japanese

Much of teaching occurred in house shared by students and instructor

 Japan (1885-1890)

Practical Experience

Hospital ward care- Richards noted that eye infections were especially
prevalent

Outpatient care- The most valuable training component

Nursing patients in homes

 Japan (1885-1890)
Social changes for Japanese women

Richards noted Japanese women possess natural qualifications for

nursing

Patience

Cheerful and Courteous

Able to “win their way where they cannot enforce it”

 Japan (1885-1890)
Social changes for Japanese women

Richards also saw the need to be more assertive

Drug Compliance

Lack of identity?
 Japan (1885-1890)

Things get better

The Japanese people are appreciative of nursing efforts, plans

commence to expand hospital facilities

Other schools built

All of Richards graduating students offered positions as

superintendents at newly established nursing schools

All graduating students demonstrate what they have learned in

practical exercises at graduation ceremony
 Japan (1885-1890)

Time goes on

The next two nursing classes total 20 students

Richards credits Mission Organizations for the growth of nursing in

Japan

Expands to teaching Bible School to when not teaching nursing

Leaves Japan in 1890, citing health and climate as reason for change

From October 1980 to March 1891, she relaxed with a sightseeing trip to
France
 Later Years-Mental Health

Heads the Philadelphia Visiting Nurses Society from April-November

1891

 December 1891-April 1892 Kirkbride's Hospital for the Insane

April 1892-December 1892 Methodist Episcopal Hospital of Philadelphia

 Later Years- Mental Health

Richards‘ findings of working in hospitals for the insane

Schools connected to private hospitals performed better for the

insane

Careful instruction needed to deal with insane

Average student lacked the patience/tact necessary to deal with the

insane

Sweetness of disposition needed

 Final Years
Retired at the age of 70 in 1911

Wrote her autobiography, “Reminiscences of Linda Richards”

Suffered a severe stroke in 1923

Lived the remainder of her life in New England Hospital for Women and
Children

Died April 16, 1930 in Boston at the age of 88

Inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY

 Disclosure of Resources
Reminiscences of Linda Richards, America's First Trained Nurse. Linda
Richards; Boston: Whitcomb & Barrows,1911

Outlines of nursing history by Minnie Goodnow; W. B. Saunders Co.,

Phildelphia,1916

Linda Richards: America’s First Trained Nurse by St. Lawrence County,

NY Branch of the American Association of University Women,
http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/richards.htm.

Misison Work in Africa; The Rev. F. W. Bates Tells the American Board
of Its Labor; Dr. Berry in Japan. The New York Times, October 17, 1895

Medical Instruction in Japan. The New York Times, June 13, 1884