Leadership in nursing education: voices from the past.

When education for nurses became a reality, leaders in the emerging profession spoke out early and often for educational improvements to prepare those who would nurse. The writings and speeches of Isabel Hampton Robb, Mary Adelaide Nutting, Lavinia Lloyd Dock, Lillian Wald, and Isabel Maitland Stewart formed the basis for a qualitative study that documents the voices of early nursing leaders who contributed to the development of nursing education as it moved from "training" toward professional education in a university setting. What is documented in the literature is the desire of these women to enhance the professional status of nursing through improvements in its educational system.