“Alert to the Necessities of the Emergency”: U.S. Nursing during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Abstract

In 1918, excellent nursing care was the primary treatment for influenza. The disease was not well understood, and there were no antiviral medications to inhibit its progression or antibiotics to treat the complicating pneumonia that often followed. The social, cultural, and scientific context of the times shaped the profession's response. The Great War created a severe civilian nursing shortage: 9,000 trained white nurses were sent overseas and thousands more were assigned to U.S. military camps. The shortage was intensified because the nursing profession failed to fully utilize African American nurses in the war effort, and refused to use nurses' aides in the European theater. Counterbalancing these problems, excellent nurse leaders, advanced preparations for a domestic emergency, infrastructure provided by the National Organization for Public Health Nurses and the Red Cross Town and Country Nurses, and a nationwide spirit of volunteerism enhanced the profession's ability to respond effectively to the emergency on the home front.