National Nurses Week, which begins May 6, recognizes the millions of nurses who make up the backbone of the American healthcare system. And the annual shout-out is more than warranted: A 2014 survey of more than 3,000 nurses found respondents to be stressed out, underslept and — at least in their own estimation — underpaid.
When LIFE featured the profession on its cover in 1938, the career was in a moment of transition. “Once almost any girl could be a nurse,” LIFE explained, “But now, with many state laws to protect the patient, nursing has become an exacting profession.” A candidate needed not only a background in science, but also a combination of “patience, devotion, tact and the reassuring charm that comes only from a fine balance of physical health and adjusted personality.”
Nurses also needed, as they still do, stamina. A typical day in the life of a Roosevelt Hospital School of Nursing student who had been capped — meaning she had successfully completed the probationary period — was described as follows:
Her day begins early. She rises at 6, breakfasts at 6:30, reports to duty at 6:55, has lunch sometime between 12 and 1:30. The rest of the day is consumed with ward duty, two hours of classes, three hours of rest or study. At 7 p.m. she is free to go out on parties, read in the library, dance in the reception room with her fellow nurses or make herself a late supper in the nurses’ kitchen.
The photo essay, shot by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was an earnest nod to a group of people responsible not only for the well-being of individual patients, but also the public health of a city and a nation. Their duty, after all, was “to secure the health of future generations.”
January 31, 1938 cover of LIFE magazine.Alfred Eisenstaedt—LIFE Magazine
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
Caption from LIFE. Student nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Many of the 49 nurses peering into the stair well have no caps. This means that they are novices.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. During their first six months student nurses must take calisthenics one night a week under a trained gym teacher.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. The first two weeks see the new nurse inducted into the ethics of her profession. She listens to talks on life in New York, on living with a group, on the problems of hospital administration. At first she has to buy her own blue uniform, black stockings and low-heeled shoes. After she has been capped, the hospital supplies the uniform.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Ward duty begins at 7 am, when nurses meet with the head day nurse (center), who relays to them the report left by the head night nurse. She here explains the chart of a patient in the male surgical ward (in background). Striped garb indicates capped nurses; white uniforms, graduate nurses. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Novices dissect their first frog in anatomy.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. After dinner nurses read in library or dance together in reception room.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. On Saturday, nurses may go out till midnight. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Operating room duty is the most interesting part of a nurse's life. Not till the end of her first year is she considered prepared for it.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In the first month the new student learns to make beds. She begins with a dummy known in the Roosevelt Hospital as "Helen Chase." Behind stands instructor in nursing arts.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesStudent nurse with children at New York's Roosevelt Hospital, 1938.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Like nuns, the young student nurses march down the main corridor of the Roosevelt Hospital on their way from classrooms to wards.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "Capping" services take place in the reception room of the Nurses' Home. The novices, having successfully passed examinations for their crucial first six months, are now permitted to wear bibbed apron, the striped uniform and the cap of the full-fledged student nurse.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
