The ‘Sister’ title: past the use by date?

Abstract

In the Middle Ages nursing was largely performed by monks and nuns of various religious orders and it is partly through religious orders that nursing became dominated by women. The reformation of nursing in the nineteenth century saw it become almost entirely feminised within the general hospital system. It wasn't until the late twentieth century that men returned to mainstream nursing. From this history it is not surprising that nursing is left with remnants of the past. This paper presents the results from a survey conducted at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney, Australia on registered nurses' perceptions of the title ‘sister', a term that is still broadly used by registered nurses within the hospital. While just over half of the nurses in the survey admitted to using the title sister, 70% of the 231 nurses surveyed thought that the term was outdated and 65% thought that sister did not reflect a contemporary image of the registered nurse.