Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing: Changes In the Nursing Movement

1970 Two-track program established with Hunter College permitting students to receive college credit for liberal arts and science courses. 1973 First male student, Arthur Varady, graduated. 1978 School received approval from the New York State Education Department to become an Associate Degree-granting institution. 1980 Articulation implemented with Stern College of Yeshiva University facilitating the B.S.N. degree for our students.
In 1961, Beth Israel, under contract with New York City , took responsibility for staffing and operating the Governeur Ambulatory Care Unit, formerly the City Institute. The first observation Rose Muscatine Hauer made the day she went to Governuer Hospital was the difficulty in determining the difference between a practical nurse, an R.N., and a nursing aide. Guidelines similar to those in place at Beth Israel were established. Aides and orderlies wore black shoes and stockings and pink uniforms; nurses would wear name pins, indicating R.N. or P.N.
1960’s Era class		R.N.s formerly wore nurses' caps to distinguish themselves, a protocol attributed to an era when many nurses were nuns; over time the caps became smaller and smaller until they disappeared. That formality no longer exists, but the identification tag persists, indicating the charge of hospital personnel. In the 1960s, because of a great nursing shortage, Rose Muscatine Hauer, on behalf of Beth Israel ,traveled to Scotland, England and Jamaica - where nurses were English trained as well as English speaking - to recruit nurses for the hospitals. Later, nurses from the Philippines were also recruited. These endeavors helped set the standard for testing and licensing of foreign nurses.
Hospital insurance, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Social Security and Public Assistance Act of 1965, the Child Health and Medical Assistance Act of 1965 created new commitments and additional demands for nursing services. A report by the Surgeon General's consultant group on nursing, "Toward Quality in Nursing - Needs and Goals" declared diploma schools must graduate 40,000 nurses each year by 1970 in order to meet society's health care needs.
Beth Israel nurse & outpatients in the 1960’s	Beth Israel nurse in 1970	In 1962, an executive order by President Kennedy established collective bargaining as a right for federal employees and 22,000 civilian nurses employed by the federal government instantly received a bargaining chip The tumultuous world war was long past and the average yearly salary for a general duty nurse in 1966 had reached $5,200, approximately two and a half times the 1946 salary of $2,100.
Alumni Day 1964	Hospital training during the 1970's	Studies have shown nurses reluctant to strike as a negotiating tool, but in 1966, New York City nurses employed in 19 municipal hospitals realized a job action was their last resort. Fifteen hundred nurses employed by the Department of Hospitals resigned, and days before resignations were to take effect, their salaries were increased from $5,150 to $6,400 with differential pay for evening and night shifts, academic preparation and experience.
The 1974 repeal of the Tyding Amendments that exempted the nonprofit health care industry from the requirements of the National Labor Management Relations Act further paved the way for organizing health care workers. Hospitals were required to bargain with employees; arbitrations were monitored by the National Labor Relations Board.
The Health and Hospital Workers Union, 199, began cultivating its roots in the New York region in the 1970s At Beth Israel, the union movement took hold in 1984 with a strike by nurses concerned about staffing, wages, compensation and benefits. Today, a section of Union 1199, known as the Guild, represents aides, housekeeping and dietary workers, and a separate division of the Guild represents registered nurses. With the Guild overseeing an extensive grievance system, the union plays an active role in the relations between nurses and hospital management.