RCN Commemorates WWI Nursing At Launch Of New Exhibition

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland is launching a new exhibition to highlight the important role nursing plays during conflicts.

For Queen and Country: Nursing, Trauma and War will tell the stories of defence nursing providing skilled, compassionate care to anyone at every stage of the patient experience from the Crimean War to more recent conflicts such as in Afghanistan.

The exhibition launches on Wednesday 1 November with a special event to commemorate First World War nursing. The launch event, held at the Royal College of Nursing in Edinburgh, will explore the personal stories of nurses whose service scrapbooks are held by the RCN Archive through short talks. The RCN’s Writer in Residence Molly Case will also perform poetry inspired by the nurses.

Prior to the launch event there will be an opportunity to meet with Molly Case during a workshop exploring the theme of ‘A Sense of Place’ through poetry and using the familiar nursing assessment, ABCDE.

Commenting on the exhibition, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland Director Theresa Fyffe said: “We are delighted to be hosting the For Queen and Country: Nursing, Trauma and War exhibition at RCN Scotland. The exhibition provides the RCN with an opportunity to showcase the contributions of nurses throughout the years during times of conflict.

“I am also pleased that our special launch event will provide a platform to highlight the personal stories from nurses of the First World War on the front line using service scrapbooks from our RCN archives.”

The exhibition will run until 30 March 2018.  The Writer in Residence workshop will take place from 1 to 3.30pm with the launch event beginning at 4pm on 1 November.