[Paris 1633--a milestone in the development of modern nursing. Vincent de Paul and the sisterhood of the Daughters of charity].

Abstract

The development of nursing is analysed from the perspective of its situation in Germany today, and the requirements expected for the next years to come. It becomes apparent that nursing as a profession regulated by the state is a young profession, just some one hundred years old. During the 19th century nursing in Germany was mostly performed by sisterhoods bound to the church and organised as collectives. But it was stimulated and challenged by the development from a philosophically oriented library medicine to a scientifically oriented hospital medicine. Thus its transformation into a profession regulated by the state ended for the time being in 1906. Nursing sisterhoods in Germany were modelled for the French Daughters of Charity that had been planted in 1633 by Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac in Paris. Models for this planting are pointed to.