Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 2014 Volume 142, Issue 9-10, Pages: 628-636
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH1410628V
Full text ( 239 KB)
Cited by
Beginnings of nursing education and nurses’ contribution to nursing professional development in Serbia
Vlaisavljević Željko (Clinical Center of Serbia, Clinic of Gastroenterogy and Hepathology, Belgrade)
Čolović Nataša (School of Medicine, Belgrade)
Perišić Mirjana (Clinical Center of Serbia, Clinic of Hematology, Belgrade)
The oldest records of developmental beginnings of patients’ healthcare relate
to the first hospital founded by St. Sava at the monastery Studenica in 1199.
The profile of the Kosovian girl became the hallmark of nursing profession in
Serbia. The first school for midwives was founded in 1899 at the Department
of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the General State Hospital in Belgrade.
However, there were no other schools for nurses in Serbia until the
foundation of the School for Midwives of the Red Cross Society in 1021. Until
then the healthcare of patients and the injured was carried out by
self-taught volunteer nurses with completed short courses of patients’
healthcare. The first course for male and female nurses was organized by the
Serbian Red Cross at the beginning of the First Serbian-Turkish War in 1876.
During wars with Serbian participation in 19th and 20th centuries with
Serbian participation, nurses gave a remarkable contribution being exposed to
extreme efforts and often sacrificing their own lives. In war times great
merit belongs to the members of the humanitarian society the Circle of
Serbian Sisters founded in Belgrade in 1903, which was the resource of a
great number of nurses who became the pride of nursing profession.
Generations of nurses were educated on their example. In 2004 the annual
award “Dušica Spasić” was established which is awarded to the best medical
nurse in Serbia. Dušica Spasić was a medical nurse that died at her
workplace, when aged 23 years, nursing the sick from variola.
Keywords: nurse, heroines, medical education of nurses