The way in which nurses were depicted in these novels provides a glimpse into the public image of nursing during these timeframes. They would have been a stabilizing force for young women in those turbulent times.

The nurse and student nurse characters in these novels were depicted as courageous and unrelentingly focused on the care of their patients. Many of the books were set in the uncertain times of the Great Depression and World War II. The novels aimed to cast nursing in an exciting and desirable light, motivating young women to consider the possibilities a career in nursing could offer. As such, these young adult novels provided girls with role models who sought personal achievement through careers as nurses despite societal limitations, love interests, and competing family obligations. The goal of the books was to encourage young women to choose nursing as a career. The goal of the books was to encourage young women to choose nursing as a career.Nursing career novels are a genre of books written for teens, starting with the Sue Barton and Penny Marsh series in the late 1930s, and extending through the 1960s with the popular Cherry Ames books. We conclude that the novels could have easily inspired young women of the time to choose nursing as a profession, and discuss the challenge to motivate men and women of today who seek purposeful, intellectually fulfilling work in a changing, uncertain world. They contained characters who were independent thinkers and successful nurses, caring for patients and saving lives.

Our discussion notes that many of these novels described examples of nurses contributing in times of great social uncertainty, such as during wars. This article discusses our endeavor by reviewing the study purpose and methods, and we discuss the results in the framework of the four themes. A literature review suggested a guiding framework, with four themes related to motivation to become a nurse image of nursing stereotypes and nurse/physician relationships.

We examined 18 nurse career novels by different authors published between 19 to determine how nurses and nursing were portrayed at various times. In view of their popularity, we wondered how these books depicted nurses and the profession of nursing. Nursing career novels, published in the 1930s and extending through the 1960s provided girls with nurse role models and encouraged young women to choose nursing as a career.

Cherry ames senior nurse 1944