Forging the Future: A History of Nursing in Canada

Forging The Future is a new and decisive text in the debate on the history of nursing. Boldly adopting the perspective of Canadian nursing leaders over the decades, Diana Mansell offers critical insight into the historical character and current state of the nursing profession. Finally, here is an alternate view on a key question in the debate: has nursing always been subordinate to the medical profession?

In this text, Diana Mansell has stepped back from the bedside and revealed how a select group of women - a close-knit elite, together occupied key leadership roles and used their influence to set in place the fundamental definition of nursing in Canada. A leading historian in her field, Dr. Mansell has captured key moments in Canadian history before time took the last of these women from the world.

Poignantly punctuated with anecdotes from practicing nurses in every era, Forging The Future is a timely investigation into the overall development of nursing in Canada. In these pages, key research on the Canadian nursing leadership is made accessible for the first time, enabling us to now understand how one group of women transformed an undervalued vocation into an indispensable profession. Indeed, together they forged the future of nursing.

Diana J. Mansell is CEO and President of Damsell Consulting and holds an adjunct appointment In the Faculty of Nursing with the University of Calgary. She is also Past-President of the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing.