Editing Registered nurse (section)

==History==
[[Florence Nightingale]] was a British nurse who provided the foundation of modern nursing. Nightingale obtained her experience during the [[Crimean War]]. In 1860, Nightingale established the St. Thomas Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-11-09 |title=Florence Nightingale |url=https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/florence-nightingale-1 |website=History |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Registered nurse philadelphia 1952 common history 2.jpg|thumb|Registered Nurse at Jefferson Medical College Hospital 1952]]
The registration of nurses by nursing councils or boards began in the early twentieth century.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Cooter, Roger |author2=Pickstone, John |title=Companion Encyclopedia of Medicine in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136794711 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLfq9cRr2WYC&pg=PA522 |date=2013}}</ref> [[New Zealand]] registered the first nurse in 1901 with the establishment of the [[Nurses Registration Act 1901|Nurses Registration Act]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kirkman|first1=Allison|author-link=Allison Kirkman|title=Health practitioners – Nurses and midwives|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/health-practitioners/page-3|access-date=10 October 2014|website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand}}</ref> Nurses were required to complete three years of training and pass a state-administered examination. Registration ensured a degree of consistency in the education of new nurses, and the title was usually protected by law. After 1905 in [[California]], for example, it became a misdemeanour to claim to be an RN without a certificate of registration.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Board |url=http://www.rn.ca.gov/about_us/history.shtml |publisher=California Board of Registered Nursing |access-date=10 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006051804/http://www.rn.ca.gov/about_us/history.shtml |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}</ref> Today, typical requirements for an RN licence in the United States include earning either an associate degree (community college) or a baccalaureate degree (college or university) in nursing and passing an examination.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rn.ca.gov/careers/steps.shtml|title=Steps to Become a California Registered Nurse|work=California Board of Registered Nursing|access-date=24 October 2020}}</ref>

Registration acts allowed authorities a degree of control over who was admitted to the profession. Requirements varied by location, but often included a stipulation that the applicant must be "of good moral character"<ref>{{cite web|title=License Requirements: RN & LPN|url=http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/nursing.htm|publisher=New York State Education Department|access-date=11 October 2014}}</ref> and must not have mental or physical conditions that rendered them unable to practice.<ref>{{cite web|title=Register as a nurse: Fitness for registration|url=http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/Nurses/Register-as-a-nurse|publisher=Nursing Council of New Zealand|access-date=11 October 2014}}</ref>

Before the 1870s, most people were cared for at home by family members. The view on nursing began to change as more medical advances were made during the end of the 19th century and leading into the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americansentinel.edu/blog/2016/09/06/a-timeline-of-nursing-education/|title=A Timeline of Nursing Education|date=6 September 2016|website=The Sentinel Watch}}</ref>