The 1920s: Membership grows

After World War I, as the nation moved toward the Great Depression, 25% of U.S. nurses were working in community health and public health to eradicate tuberculosis, improve maternity and infant care, and provide health care to rural areas.

Because of the tremendous demand during and immediately following the war, nursing became caught in a web of over-optimism. Nursing schools were crowded with new students; within a few years, the occupational fields became saturated as new graduates sought employment. Nursing had been warned of an “over-production of nurses” — and by the late 1920s, unemployment had reached alarming rates.

As is usually the case, problems of this era drastically affected future of the nursing profession. Higher educational requirements, shorter working hours and general duty staff nursing all began as possible solutions to the problem of over-supply.

1920

• Following the war, the University of Washington Department of Nursing was reopened and Elizabeth Sterling Soule was appointed as department head. The school's curriculum included a new nine-month course in public health nursing.
  
• WSGNA went on record asking for military rank for nurses in support of the American Nurses Association’s position and the U.S. Congress adopted a bill giving partial rank to nurses.

1922

• WSGNA established a Private Duty Section to address the special interest needs of nurses working as private duty nurses.
  
• Seattle hosted the Biennial Convention of the American Nurses Association, and more than 4,000 nurses attended.

1923

• In WSGNA’s continuous campaign to improve the Nurse Practice Act, an amendment was passed abolishing the waiver of examination for nurses who graduated before 1911.
  
• Etta B. Cummings, WSGNA’s first treasurer, died and left her house and estate ($2,500) to establish the Etta B. Cummings Memorial Fund — to be used for “Sick and Worn Out Nurses of Washington State.” This fund is still in existence today and administered by the Washington State Nurses Foundation.

1924

Efforts to improve nursing education lead to the formation of the Washington League for Nursing Education, which worked closely and collaboratively with WSGNA.

1925

• King County Nurses established a central directory for hiring private duty nurses, and averaged 1,550 calls a month. Other professional private duty registries were started in Spokane and Tacoma and operated through the mid-1960s.
  
• The WSGNA Private Duty Section was instrumental in the promotion and eventual statewide adoption of 12-hour duty for private duty nurses. By the end of 1925, acceptance of the 12-hour duty is reported from Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Wenatchee, Walla Walla and Grays Harbor.

1927

WSGNA membership grew to 1,127. In 1928, the Secretary of WSGNA (paid staff) was requested to visit every district at the expense of the association. This was the beginning of field work!

1929

• On Jan. 1, the first issue of The Bulletin, the official publication of WSGNA, was published. Later, The Bulletin’s name was changed to the Washington State Journal of Nursing.
  
• The Community Nursing Service was organized in Seattle with 11 nurses and later changed its name in 1934 to “Visiting Nurse Service.”