Stained Glass

2001/09/20

Published in "Juku" No. 231, 2001

This spring, with the establishment of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care at Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), Keio University's nursing education has taken a major step forward into a new era.
Its origin is the Department of Medicine Nurse Training Center, established over 80 years ago.
This article introduces the origin of this nursing education, which was carried on after the war by the Kosei Joshi Gakuin (Women's Welfare Academy) and later the Junior College of Nursing.

Nursing education at Keio University began with the Keio University Department of Medicine Nurse Training Center (hereafter, the Nurse Training Center), established in 1918.

The Nurse Training Center was established by the university's Department of Medicine and received approval for its establishment in 1917. The following year, an entrance ceremony for the first class of 54 students, selected from approximately 160 applicants, was held in Mita. For the first year, students lived in a dormitory at the Shiba Yojoen (sanatorium), which was founded by Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato, the first Dean of the School of Medicine, and classes and practical training were held in the Yojoen's dining hall and auditorium.

The first Director was Taichi Kitajima, who would later become Dean of the School of Medicine, and Kei Suzuoki was appointed as the nursing supervisor from the Japanese Red Cross Central Hospital. The faculty included head instructor Hinaaki Otani (infectious diseases) and Ichitaro Ozaki (internal medicine nursing), and English language education was also provided from the beginning. Kikue Matsuda, who was appointed as head nurse from the Japanese Red Cross Hospital along with Supervisor Suzuoki and later became the second nursing supervisor, recalled the educational environment at the time of its establishment as follows.

"Both Dr. Kitajima and Supervisor Suzuoki were very strict about discipline, so I was also very careful. There were no textbooks for classes, so everything was handwritten. I also spent my time in the classroom listening to lectures with the students. Classes were about half a day, and the rest of the time was spent organizing notes."

According to the testimony of graduates, it seems that classes based on handwritten notes continued until around the 15th graduating class.

With the opening of the university hospital in 1919, the Nurse Training Center also moved to the current School of Medicine campus in Nishi-Shinanomachi, Yotsuya-ku. What is noteworthy here is that nursing education had begun prior to the opening of the university hospital. Students of the Nurse Training Center who completed their course of study were awarded a diploma after a period of compulsory service at the university hospital. The course of study was initially two years but was extended to two and a half, and then three years. On the other hand, the compulsory service period was initially two years, later shortened to one and a half years, and was abolished in 1942.

Here, I would also like to touch on the mindset with which students approached their studies during the era of the Nurse Training Center. This is because it was a time when the very idea of women having a profession was viewed as strange by those around them. Regarding this situation, Yoshimi Yamada, a member of the 11th graduating class, spoke as follows in a roundtable discussion published in the "Kosei Joshi Gakuin 60th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine."

"I had intended to become a school teacher, but I was met with opposition and was told it would be better to prepare for marriage. However, I came to want to be a nurse, and with the feeling that I wouldn't mind being single for the rest of my life, I pushed through the strong opposition and came to Tokyo to rely on my uncle."

It could be said that for students of that time to study at the Nurse Training Center required a stronger will regarding their own lives and careers than it does today—in other words, a spirit of independence and self-respect.

In May 1922, a Midwife Training School was established. For about 20 years thereafter, the Nurse Training Center and the Midwife Training School coexisted as separate schools, but they merged in 1944 to become the "Nurse and Midwife Training School."

During World War II, the Nurse and Midwife Training School faced a period of hardship. In 1945, as Tokyo came under air raids by US military aircraft, students, along with doctors and nurses, treated and cared for those injured in the attacks. Then, in an air raid in the early morning of May 24, 1945, about 60% of the university hospital, including the nurses' dormitory, was destroyed by fire.

After the war, the Nurse and Midwife Training School, having recovered from significant damage, made a fresh start in April 1950 as the "Kosei Joshi Gakuin." The nursing license also changed from a local license to a national license.

The rapid progress in medical technology and systems that followed was remarkable, and the education at Kosei Joshi Gakuin changed to correspond with it. This led to the establishment of the Junior College of Nursing in 1988 and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care this year.

Kiku Murata, from the second graduating class, wrote the following in the alumni association magazine:

"It happened when I was casually chatting with Head Nurse Matsuda in the hallway. Dr. Kitasato scolded me, saying, 'Do not stand around talking. As a nurse, you must refrain from any behavior that might cause even the slightest anxiety to patients.'"

Although the main bodies and methods of Keio's nursing education may change, the spirit of patient-centered medical care and nursing, as shown in Kitasato's words, will be passed on to the new century and the new faculty.