The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurses are perhaps the most famous women of WWI. Their story captured the imagination and they were beloved by the British soldiers ‘Tommy’s’. They weren’t however, universally admired by the professional nurses of WWI. The problem had to do with the use of the word ‘nurse’ for non-professionals.
The VAD were volunteer and therefore only women who had money to buy their own uniforms and didn’t need to work. They were upper class women and professional nurses were not. Professional nurses in the early 1900’s fought with the perception that they were one remove from prostitutes. While some nurses were from upper class families, most were women who needed to work. Some members of the VAD looked down on the professional nurses because they were lower class. VAD nurses could have a difficult time taking orders from professional nurses because of the class difference.
Professional nurses bristled at the VAD being called ‘nurses’ since the VAD usually had ten hours of training followed by three months of practical with supervision. Professional nurses had years of education and experience, and did not appreciate untrained volunteers being called nurses. Being a nurse was a hard won title and allowing VAD to be called nurses minimized the work.
The VAD and the professional nurse performed different duties. The VAD functioned much like a nurse’s aid does now. They bathed and fed patients, cleaned rooms and assisted the nurses in dressing changes and other procedures. The VAD was a favorite of the Tommy because their duties allowed them to spend time at the bedside reading to patients, writing letters and doing multiple things to make the Tommys more comfortable. It was an incredible amount of work and the medical department could not have functioned without them.
The professional nurses managed the hospitals, ensured a hygienic environment gave medications, managed patient wounds, assisted with surgeries and oversaw the care for hundreds of casualties. They put all their experience to use to make sure that as many men survived the war as possible. They were not at the bedside as much as the VAD and weren’t as popular in the romantic public eye as the VAD.
The reason why this story resonates with me now is that we still face some of the same issues. Just in case you were wondering, it is illegal to call yourself a nurse if you aren’t licensed. The license means something. Nursing is a real profession with its own knowledge base. I am a nurse. I’ve been a nurse for more than 25 years and it means something more than holding hands and being nice, it means I have real knowledge and skills that work toward making things better.
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