Famous male nurses in history
The following are some of the notable and most famous Inspirational male nurses in history who have left an indelible impression on our minds and the medical fraternity-
1. James Derham (1757-1802): James Derham was the first African American nurse in history. He formally practiced medicine in the USA despite the fact that he never received a medical degree. Derham was born a slave and he was owned by many doctors. It was one of his owners, Dr Robert Dove, who encouraged him to take up medicine. He began working as a nurse till he earned enough to get his freedom in the year 1783.
2. Walt Whitman (1819-1892): Whitman is regarded to be the most celebrated and noted nurse in modern history. He had spent a large part of his career serving as a volunteer nurse in the American Civil War. He was also a poet and a nurse and he had the habit of writing notes and poems to a large extent. Whitman had immortalized his role as a nurse in the poem “The Wound Dresser”.
3. Edward LT Lyon: Lyon became the first male nurse in 1955 to get a commission as a reserve officer in the US Army Corps. He had joined about 3500 women nurses in the Corps and this action of his made the nation overcome the objection to male nurses by the US Military. There was a subsequent amendment to the Army Navy Nurses Act of 1947 that became effective in 1954 that led to the growth of more male nurses in the various military crops.