ブックタイトルThe Journal of Humanitarian Studies

概要

The Journal of Humanitarian Studies

Journal of Humanitarian Studies Vol. 4, 2015La SourceJacques Chapuis, RN, MSc 1The world’s first secular nursing schoolIn 1859, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Countess Valerie de Gasparin founded the world’s very first secularschool for sick nurses, as they were known at that time. This was a pioneering move; opening La Sourcebroke a long tradition linking nursing training to having taken vows in a religious order. One year later, in1860, the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing opened in London.The guiding principle behind secular nursing training was that healing patients was not just a work ofpure Christian charity, it was a profession in itself. It was suitable for well-educated and sufficientlyindependent young ladies who had no wish or need to become a member of a religious order. Withoutbeing a deliberately feminist act in the modern sense, opening La Source was unquestionably innovativebecause it lead the way to women’s education, remuneration for their work and their increased autonomy.In 155 years of existence, La Source has awarded more than 7,000 nursing diplomas and has demonstratedits capacity to conceive and implement new care models and the means of teaching them. During both theworld wars which ravaged Europe, graduate nurses from La Source carried out battlefield surgery right onthe front lines, directly contributing the school’s international renown.Closer to home, La Source was French-speaking Switzerland’s“Red Cross”nursing school until 2002, atwhich time it became a higher education establishment as part of the University of Applied Sciences andArts ? Western Switzerland. It is now known as the Institut & Haute Ecole de la Sante La Source (the LaSource Institute and School of Nursing Sciences) or La Source, for short.There are currently more than 900 students enrolled at La Source, of whom 730 are undergraduates. Theschool offers several specialist post-graduate programmes, most notably in the fields of care for the elderly,community health and home care services, occupational health, evidence-based nursing, and physical andmental assessment.In pedagogical terms, La Source uses blended approaches, problem-based learning in particular and anintegrative alternation of courses and internships. The School also utilises its large simulation centre whichcan accommodate 60 students per half-day (120 students/day). The faculty consists of 80 teaching staff, ofwhom about 20 also contribute to the work of the school’s research laboratories. These look at:- Population aging- Community health and health promotion- Mental health- Child and family health- Nursing methods and safety- Healthcare systems- Pedagogy and professional didactics1Director, School of Nursing Sciences, HES-SO Lausanne, Switzerland人道研究ジャーナルVol. 4, 201535