Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31952/amha.18.2.6
BADGES/PINS OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SCHOOLS IN SLOVENIA FROM 1925 UNTIL EARLY 1980s
Janez Fischinger
; Angela Boškin Faculty of Health Care, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Duša Fischinger
; Slovenian Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Aleš Fischinger
; University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Department of Traumatology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Introduction: Many nursing and midwifery schools in many countries around the world
awarded or still award graduation badges or pins to their graduates. All graduates from
different parts of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia and later the Republic of Yugoslavia
educated in Slovenian healthcare schools received badges from these schools. Some of the
graduates later employed in medical institutions across former Yugoslavia wore these badges
on their uniforms. The main purpose of this historical research was to establish which
Slovenian health care schools awarded the graduation badges and what they looked like.
It was also investigated why the badges ceased to be awarded and what motivated Angela
Boškin Faculty of Health Care in Jesenice to reintroduce awarding the badges. Methods:
Due to a lack of written sources, we conducted 393 face to face and telephonic interviews
with former badge recipients across Slovenia. Their existing badges were photographed. On
the authors’ initiative, a private collection of badges was started. Results: It has been established
that in the 20th century all Slovenian secondary health schools awarded badges. The
Nursing College, Ljubljana also awarded graduation badges. Five different types of badges in
many variants were issued. The first badges were awarded to graduates by Slovenian oldest Nursing School, Ljubljana in 1925. The badges ceased to be awarded in the late 1970s and the
early 1980s. Some questions about probable reasons for cessation of awarding badges remain
unanswered. Less than a fifth of interviewees kept their badges. Graduating nursing badges
were reintroduced in Slovenia in 2017 with a new badge which is presented and depicted in
this article. The motivation for the reintroduction of graduating badges is also investigated.
Discussion and conclusion: Unfortunately, many Slovenian nurses and midwives are
not sufficiently aware of the meaning and importance of their badges. Although badges are
important for professional image and identity of nurses, badges as a symbol of nursing have
become almost completely forgotten. Graduation badges are miniature works of art and are
proof of the existence and development of Slovenian healthcare schools. Nursing badges
present a part of nursing history as well as being our cultural heritage. The badges deserve to
be written and talked about and should be displayed in a planned future Slovenian Health
Care Museum.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
251595
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2020.
Visits: 1.989 *