NURSING JOURNAL: JOURNAL OF THE GRADUATE NURSES ASSOCIATION OF THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA, 1942-1945

Abstract

The founding of the School for Nursing in Zagreb in 1921 marked the beginning of the profes-sionalization of nursing in Croatia. Nurses founded an association and started a professional newsletter. The Sestrinski vjesnik (Nursing Journal) was preceded by the Sestrinska riječ (Nursing Word). The journal articles were analyzed regarding the permanent and occasional sections to which they belonged or regarding the topics they covered. The regular columns were: Nurses write to us, From the Association and From the editorial board, Changes in the service of the nurses of the General Directorate of Health, We read, Grains, Home visits, and the occasional column was What others write. Other contributions are grouped according to the following topics: The position of nurses in the country, Nursing, Nursing as a promoter of social medicine and work in institutions, Nursing work in the countryside, Protection of women (mothers) and children, Diseases and injuries, and Stories from nursing practice. The authors of most of the articles were nurses, while in the thematic section, Diseases and injuries, the authors were doctors. The journal had several functions: informative, educational, and promotion of professional solidarity. Together with minutes of the Association of Graduate Nurses from 1940 to 1945, it makes exceptionally valuable material for analysis of the nursing work of that time.