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Purpose The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how a historical event packaged as an iconic heritage cultural brand can be marketized and modified over time to ensure brand longevity and continued emotional commitment and loyalty through the leverage of stories and associations more closely aligned with modern-day audiences. The authors do this through examining the marketization of the New Zealand World War 1 (WWI) nurse to today’s audiences. The periods of study are WWI (1914–1918) and then the modern day. The New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS) during WWI has previously had little attention as a key actor in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC), Today ANZAC is held as pivotal in the birth of New Zealand’s perception of nationhood and as an iconic heritage cultural brand. The history and legend of the ANZAC plays an important role in New Zealand culture and is fundamental to the “Anzac Spirit”, a signifier of what it means to be a New Zealander. Design/methodology/approach A historical case study method is used. The primary source of data is 1914–1918, and includes contemporaneous articles, and personal writings: diaries, letters and published memoirs. More contemporary works form the basis for discussion of marketization as it relates to the NZANS. The article first presents conceptual framing, then the development of the Anzac brand and the history of the NZANS and its role in WWI before turning to discussion on the marketization of this nursing service to today’s audiences and as part of the ANZAC/Anzac brand. Findings Today the story of the WWI NZANS nurse, previously seldom heard, has been co-opted and is becoming increasingly merged as an integral part of the Anzac story. The history of the NZANS during WWI has a great deal of agency today as part of that story, serving many functions within it and providing a valuable lever for marketization. Originality/value To date, there is a scarcity of marketing analysis that examines the marketization of history. By focusing on New Zealand WWI nursing as a contributor to the Anzac story, the authors contribute to the understanding of how marketers package and contemporize history for appeal to audiences through both sustaining and reworking cultural branding.

The purpose of this contemporary history study is to analyse nursing strategy documents produced by NHS Trusts in England in the period 2009–2013, through a process of discourse analysis. In 2013 the Francis Report on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was published. The Report highlighted the full range of organisational failures in a Trust that valued financial efficiency over patient care. The analysis that followed, however, dwelt heavily on the failings of the nurses. Nursing strategy documents at that time served to set the future direction for NHS Trusts, prescribing specific value frameworks for each nursing workforce. However, the values chosen frequently conflicted with each other pitting nursing values against a managerial trope. It is argued that documents provided a response to wider NHS concerns and high-profile failures in care, particularly the Francis Report, paying lip service to staff engagement whilst maintaining a corporate focus. Nursing values were placed firmly within a managerialist discourse, one that has needed to be re-evaluated in the current Covid-19 pandemic. Wider implications of the research suggest discussion of value conflict may be beneficial within nursing education and a truly local approach to strategy creation would potentially promote staff buy-in to strategy documents.

Aim To describe the life and work of the international nurses of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and to examine their role in relation to their contribution to Spanish nursing in this period. Methods This historical study is based primarily on the memoirs of the international nurses who joined the war health services of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. The evidence that was elicited from these sources was compared and contrasted with other contemporary documents in order to compare their perspectives with those of other contemporaries. Results The nurses of the International Brigades joined the front line health services as part of the mobile medical and surgical teams that were attached to the fighting units. They lived and worked under extreme conditions, often under fire. Their work while in Spain was not limited to care delivery but also included managerial and educational aspects. The international nurses' observations of Spanish nursing at the time were not always accurate, which might be explained by a lack of contact with qualified Spanish nursing staff due to a shortage of fully qualified nurses. Conclusion In the absence of the voices of the Spanish nurses themselves, the written records of the international nurses were invaluable in analyzing Spanish nursing in this period. Their testimonies are, in essence, the international nurses' legacy to the Spanish nurses who stayed behind after the departure of the International Brigadists in 1938.

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Nursing History Review. The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1891/1062-8061.28.93. During the Korean War (1950–1953) the Norwegian government sent a mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) to support the efforts of the United Nations (UN) Army. From the first, its status was ambiguous. The US-led military medical services believed that the “Norwegian Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” (NORMASH) was no different from any other MASH; but both its originators and its staff regarded it as a vehicle for humanitarian aid. Members of the hospital soon recognized that their status in the war zone was primarily that of a military field hospital. Yet they insisted on providing essential medical care to the local civilian population as well as trauma care to UN soldiers and prisoners of war. The ambiguities that arose from the dual mission of NORMASH are explored in this article, which pays particular attention to the experiences of nurses, as expressed in three types of source: their contemporary letters to their Matron-in-Chief; a report written by one nurse shortly after the war; and a series of oral history interviews conducted approximately 60 years later. The article concludes that the nurses of NOR- MASH experienced no real role-conflict. They viewed it as natural that they should offer their services to both military and civilian casualties according to need, and they experienced a sense of satisfaction from their work with both types of patient. Ultimately, the experience of Norwegian nurses in Korea illustrates the powerful sense of personal agency that could be experienced by nurses in forward field hospitals, where political decision-making did not impinge too forcefully on their clinical and ethical judgment as clinicians.

The evidence relating to Edith Cavell’s life and death is examined in this chapter. The paucity of “original” primary evidence and eyewitness testimony is recognised. The significance of evidence located at the Archives of The Royal London Hospital, the Imperial War Museum (which holds several collections of witness testimony), the Royal College of Nursing Archives, and newspaper archives (particularly those of The Times and The Manchester Guardian) is acknowledged. Four significant biographies are mentioned: those of Adolph Hoehling, Archibald Clark-Kennedy, Rowland Ryder, and Diana Souhami. Cavell’s life is traced. Particular attention is given to Cavell’s own writings, including a fragment of an original diary she kept in 1914 and 1915. From her prison cell at St Gilles, she wrote several letters, some of which have been preserved at the Imperial War Museum, London. She also spent some of her time studying Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, before bequeathing a marked copy to her cousin, who had this version republished in facsimile as the Edith Cavell Edition. Edith Cavell was executed by a firing squad on 12 October 1915.

Edith Cavell has been portrayed in many different ways, and this book examines her myriad “faces”, as they have been constructed and handed down by propagandists, biographers, and artists. Its introduction relates these ideas to a rigorous form of “public history”, in which analysis can intersect with commemoration. Edith Cavell was first introduced to the British public through a series of Foreign Office statements which claimed to establish the “facts” of her case. Her own voice, along with those of her family, colleagues, and friends, was muted, as a monolithic image of a national heroine and martyr emerged. The two main areas of tension in her commemoration are identified. The difference between the complexity of her behaviour and motivations and the simplicity of the “legend” that was constructed around her is highlighted. And the attempts of individuals and professional organisations to commemorate her life and work are contrasted with the public construction of a “heroine” who could be of value to the nation state.

Background: Patients within the Adult Intensive Care Unit have the potential to develop delirium and agitation. This can result in the patient displaying unwanted behaviours such as attempting to remove the medical devices to which they are attached. Some Adult Intensive Care Unit within the United Kingdom are starting to adopt physical restraint as a method of managing unwanted behaviours. Aim: To determine the experiences, attitudes and opinions of Adult Intensive Care nurses in relation to the application of physical restraint. Design: Questionnaire survey Methods: A postal questionnaire was distributed to all nurses (n=192) within two purposefully selected large Adult Intensive Care Units in the United Kingdom. Results: Data were collected between November 2012 and February 2013. The questionnaire was completed by 38.9% (n=75) of the nurses contacted. All believed that physical restraint had a place, with the majority of the view that the reason for its application was to maintain patient safety. Some expressed discomfort around the use of physical restraint. Nurses were happy to discuss the use of restraint with families. There was a perceived need for training and support for nursing staff as well as the need for medical staff to support the decision-making process. Conclusion: Nurses require more support and evidence to base their decision-making upon. They require guidance from professional bodies as well as support from medical colleagues. The findings have limited generalisability as they can only be applied to the units accessed and the response rate was poor. Relevance to clinical practice: Alternative approaches such as pain management, sleep promotion and the involvement of relatives needs to be explored before physical restraint policy can be written. Further research is required into the safety of physical restraint, alternative methods of managing the risk of agitation and identifying predisposing factors to accidental device removal.

Nurses played an essential role in the major developments in surgery between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. This chapter focuses on the Anglo-American world, weaving in original research with a historiographical review. Three strands run through the chapter—professionalisation, education, and innovation. Professionalisation includes the changing role and perception of nurses within both hospital and military arenas. Textbooks reveal the changing surgical knowledge required for nursing, but also illustrate continuity in education and in practices, such as preparing a domestic home for surgery, which nurses did well into the twentieth century.

Nursing Standard interviews nurse historian Christine Hallett about the nursing contribution to the first world war effort. Professor Hallett, author of Veiled Warriors, explains the incredible demands placed on nurses who found themselves treating vast numbers of casualties with wounds of unprecedented severity. Patriotism, a culturally ingrained stoicism and camaraderie between nurses helped them get through it.

Nurses and subordination: a historical study of mental nurses’ perceptions on administering aversion therapy for ‘sexual deviations’ This study aimed to examine the meanings that nurses attached to the ‘treatments’ administered to cure ‘sexual deviation’ (SD) in the UK, 1935–1974. In the UK, homosexuality was considered a classifiable mental illness that could be ‘cured’ until 1992. Nurses were involved in administering painful and distressing treatments. The study is based on oral history interviews with fifteen nurses who had administered treatments to cure individuals of their SD. The interviews were transcribed for historical interpretation. Some nurses believed that their role was to passively follow any orders they had been given. Other nurses limited their culpability concerning administering these treatments by adopting dehumanising and objectifying language and by focussing on administrative tasks, rather than the human beings in need of their care. Meanwhile, some nurses genuinely believed that they were acting beneficently by administering these distinctly unpleasant treatments. It is envisaged that this study might act to reiterate the need for nurses to ensure their interventions have a sound evidence base and that they constantly reflect on the moral and value base of their practice and the influence that science and societal norms can have on changing views of what is considered ‘acceptable practice’.

Fully-trained professional nurses worked on hospital ships during the First World War, caring for the wounded during their transfer from the Gallipoli Peninsula to military hospitals on the Island of Lemnos and in Egypt. Many wrote accounts of their experiences, including diaries, official narratives for inclusion in Arthur Butlers ‘Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918’, and published memoirs. The paper explores the mythical prism through which they interpreted their experiences. Following an analysis of the ‘romance trope' upon which they drew, the paper identifies themes of ‘ordeal’ and ‘struggle’ which formed the central elements of their writings. It also identifies the ambivalence inherent in these writings, which focus on both the ‘heroism’ of soldier-patients and the pressures nurses appear to have felt to behave ‘heroically’ themselves. It concludes that behind the lines of nurses’ narratives there is a sense that, in doing such extraordinary work, these women believed they were both carving out an identity for themselves as female professionals on a world stage, and discovering their own strength and power as individuals.

Aims and objectives. The study aimed to examine the experiences of patients and meanings attached to ‘treatments’ of sexual deviations, which included homosexuality and transvestism, in the UK (1949–1992), exploring reasons for such treatments, experiences and how individual lives were affected. Background. Male homosexuality remained illegal in England until 1967 and, along with transvestism, was considered an antisocial sexual deviation that could be cured. Homosexuality remained classifiable as a mental illness until 1992. Nurses were involved in administering treatments to cure these individuals; however, there is a paucity of information about this now-discredited mental health nursing practice. Design. A nationwide study based on oral history interviews. Methods. Purposeful and snowball sampling was utilised when selecting participants for the study. Participants were recruited via adverts in gay establishments/media. All participants gave signed informed consent. Face-to-face oral history interviews were conducted and transcribed for historical interpretation. Results. Seven former male patients made contact, aged 65–97 years at interview. All reported that the treatments had been unsuccessful in altering their sexual desires or behaviour. Most sought treatment owing to unsupportive and negative attitudes from friends, family and wider society. Others selected treatments instead of imprisonment. Most eventually found happiness in same-sex relationships. However, all were left feeling emotionally troubled by the treatments they received. Conclusion. Defining homosexuality and transvestism as mental illnesses and implementing what could be argued to be inefficient treatments to eradicate them appears to have had a lasting negative impact on the patients who received them. Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses who care for older gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender patients need to be mindful of their potential past treatment by healthcare services and ensure that they are non-judgmental and accepting of their sexual orientation and current gender.

Oral history methodology was used to investigate the perspectives of retired British district nurses and Australian domiciliary nurses who had practiced between 1960 and 2000. Interviews yielded insights into the dramatic changes in community nursing practice during the last four decades of the 20th century. Massive changes in health care and government-led drives for greater efficiency meant moving from practice governed by “experiential time” (in which perception of time depends on the quality of experience) to practice governed by “measured time” (in which experience itself is molded by the measurement of time). Nurses recognized that the quality of their working lives and their relationships with families had been altered by the social, cultural, and political changes, including the drive for professional recognition in nursing itself, soaring economic costs of health care and push for deinstitutionalization of care. Community nurses faced several dilemmas as they grappled with the demands for efficiency created by these changes.

A highly original study of a neglected area of healthcare history. The paper traces the important work undertaken by the European Nursing and Midwifery Unit of the WHO in the later twentieth century, and offers significant new insights into the dramatic changes that took place in attitudes to healthcare during this era.

Colin Fraser Brockington was Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Manchester from 1952 to 1965. During that time he developed the Diploma in Community Nursing, the first pre-registration training course for nurses at a British University. This paper traces Brockington's education and career and explores his commitment to university-based nursing education which appears to have stemmed from his desire to enhance and broaden the role of the health visitor. It also considers the implications of the innovative course at Manchester and evaluates the way in which it influenced the gradual movement of nursing education into the university sector throughout the UK.