6 Beyond the cuckoo’s nest
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Geertje Boschma
Abstract
This chapter analyses the history of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from the point of view of nurses in the context of Dutch psychiatry from 1940 to 2010. It examines the way they negotiated their professional identity in the face of dwindling ECT use and fierce anti-psychiatric critique in the 1970s and the 1980s. The chapter discusses how ECT use increased again during the 1990s, affecting nurses' professional knowledge and authority over ECT. Nurses were able to take on new specialised roles in ECT nursing, shaped by their expertise in both general and psychiatric nursing care. In order to put the role of nurses in ECT in perspective, the chapter examines developments in one general hospital in the Netherlands and the university hospital in the city of Groningen.
Abstract
This chapter analyses the history of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from the point of view of nurses in the context of Dutch psychiatry from 1940 to 2010. It examines the way they negotiated their professional identity in the face of dwindling ECT use and fierce anti-psychiatric critique in the 1970s and the 1980s. The chapter discusses how ECT use increased again during the 1990s, affecting nurses' professional knowledge and authority over ECT. Nurses were able to take on new specialised roles in ECT nursing, shaped by their expertise in both general and psychiatric nursing care. In order to put the role of nurses in ECT in perspective, the chapter examines developments in one general hospital in the Netherlands and the university hospital in the city of Groningen.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface xiv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Care and cure in nursing work
- 1 Baby and infant healthcare in Dresden, 1897–1930 21
- 2 The taste of war 35
- 3 ‘In the company of those similarly afflicted’ 52
- 4 ‘Hurting and caring’ 69
- 5 A poverty of leadership 82
- 6 Beyond the cuckoo’s nest 100
-
Part II Public health and nursing work
- 7 The cholera epidemic of 1892 and its impact on modernising public health and nursing in Hamburg 123
- 8 ‘Some kindred form of medical social work’ 144
- 9 ‘Community healthcare’ 163
- 10 Nurses in schools, coal towns and migrant camps 180
- Index 200
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface xiv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Care and cure in nursing work
- 1 Baby and infant healthcare in Dresden, 1897–1930 21
- 2 The taste of war 35
- 3 ‘In the company of those similarly afflicted’ 52
- 4 ‘Hurting and caring’ 69
- 5 A poverty of leadership 82
- 6 Beyond the cuckoo’s nest 100
-
Part II Public health and nursing work
- 7 The cholera epidemic of 1892 and its impact on modernising public health and nursing in Hamburg 123
- 8 ‘Some kindred form of medical social work’ 144
- 9 ‘Community healthcare’ 163
- 10 Nurses in schools, coal towns and migrant camps 180
- Index 200
