Nursing in America 163 been the strongest influence in maintaining and advancing our standards of nursing and of train- ing. It has been a singularly united and all-inclusive body, and has from Super- the first set itself against exploitation intendents» Society of the pupil by the hospital and against the use of nurses in training for private duty. It has steadily worked for better living conditions, shorter hours, better teaching, ample training faci- lities for nurses, and for every progressive cause bearing on the professional life. Educational interests took on a new life after this, and in 1898 Isabel Hampton, by that time Mrs. Hunter Robb, whose position in The leadership was not changed by her Teachers marriage, advanced her long cherished College • 1 1 • 1 , course idea that an opportunity might be found at Teachers College, Columbia University, for advanced instruction to graduate nurses who wished to fit themselves for teaching, for adminis- tration, and for executive posts. After full dis- cussion the college did indeed agree to co-operate with the nursing profession in this aim, and in 1899 the Department of Hospital Economics was opened there. This department will be described in more detail in another chapter. From the one-year teaching of the pioneer
