Enlightened Charity:

The Holistic Nursing Care, Education,

and

Advices Concerning the Sick

of

Sister Matilda Coskery (1799 – 1870).

 Table of Contents
--

Enlightened Charity: The Holistic Nursing Care, Education, and Advices Concerning the Sick of Sister Matilda Coskery (1799 – 1870).

Preface: Professional Nursing in America Before the Nightingale Model

Introduction: That Something Different

Chapter 1: A Healing Heritage of Holistic Nursing Care

The Spirit of the Company
     Holy Practices - Simplicity, Charity and Humility
     Poverty and Obedience
     Common Rules
Migration of the Vincentian-Louisian Nursing Tradition to America
      “That the Sick Poor May Not Be Kept Waiting”

Chapter 2: Holistic Education of the Sister of Charity Nurse
        Contemplation in Action
        Mary Xavier Clark on the “Blessed Art”
        Gathering Nursing Knowledge in Public
              The First Hospital Mission at the Baltimore Infirmary
              Learning from Doctors and Disease
                     Cholera Victims and Victors
        Called to Nurse the Insane
              Sister Matilda Coskery, 1828-1833
              Serving the Insane at the Maryland Hospital, 1833-1838
              Sister Servant in Richmond, Virginia, 1838-1840

Chapter 3: Sister Matilda - Moral Entrepreneur   

Foundational Faith in Mission and Business
Leadership, Vision, and Hope, 1840-1847
    Moral Therapy and Social Justice
    Striking a Balance Between Freedom and Restraint
    A Healing Environment
The Charity of Nurse Sectarians
    Limits to Charity
    Charity Begins at Home
Expanding the Reach of Intercession and Inspiration, 1847-1849

Chapter 4: The Doctor-Nurse Game in the 1840’s, To Play or Not to Play

The Game
“Best” Practice and Professional Culture Clash
Sister Matilda’s Middle Years, 1849 - 1855
A Historical Privilege

Chapter 5: Sister Matilda Coskery’s Advices Concerning the Sick

The Voice of an “Oracle”
The Curative Point  (Pgs 1-7)
    Recipes for Healing
Life and Death is in the Hands of Nurses (Pgs 7 - 16)
    Emetics
    Blistering
    Mustard Plasters
    Teas and Tonics
    Foot-baths
    Injections
    Opiates
    Cleanliness
    General Remarks
“Simple” Advice, Titration, and Regulation (Pgs. 16 - 27)
     Mania a Potu or Delirium Tremens
     Cupping
Kindness, The Remedy of Remedies (Pgs. 28 - 44)
     A Few Remarks on Insanity
     Of Measurement
Nursing Science of the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Pgs. 45-46)
     A Professional’s Exceptions
Sickroom Management (Pgs. 47 - 68)
Fever (Pgs. 69 - 76)

Chapter 6: Revising the Legend and Repealing the Myth

Later Years of Compassionate Care, 1855-1870
Civil War - Nursing Both Sides
No Fear in Death
Secularization of Nursing
    The Myth about Early Nurses
    Constructing An American Legend
    Lost in Transition

 Epilogue: Enlightened Reform and Esprit de Corps