Examining the evolution of nursing education in Isfahan from 1968 to 2018: A historical study

Knowledge of the history and developments of a discipline paves the way for comprehension of what has happened before as well as understanding the contemporary phenomena and creating insight for the future; this way, it creates knowledge and leads to the creation and reconstruction of a discipline. Accordingly, understanding evolution from historical facet in nursing seems indispensable. Despite the fact that more than 50 years have passed since the establishment of schools and nursing education in Isfahan not much information is available and a very few studies have been done in this regard; in so doing, this study endeavors to examine the evolution of nursing education in Isfahan.

The is a qualitative research with historical survey that 12 in-depth interviews were conducted and 80 journals, booklets and old books, 350 historical and old photographs were examined. The codes obtained from the interviews as well as the items obtained from the texts were put together to develop the structure of the narrative, which shows the evolution of education in the nursing in Isfahan.

The obtained narratives were as follows: Higher School of Nursing from the years 1968 to 1976 and 1976 to 1982, educational complex of Isfahan belonging to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the evolution of the Isfahan faculty of Nursing and Midwifery during and after the Islamic revolution.

Since nursing care and nursing education has grown rapidly in other countries, it seems that nursing education, especially in Isfahan as one of the metropolitan cities in Iran has many prospects in the future and can move towards promotion of professionalism and specialization.