ZADARSKA PRIMALJSKA ŠKOLA OD NJEZINA OSNUTKA 1820. DO ZATVARANJA 1918. GODINE

Abstract

The Zadar Midwifery School was founded in 1820 and started teaching in 1821, that is, as many as 56 years before the Midwifery School in Zagreb. Credits for this early start go to Dr Andrija Mosetig, Dalmatian protomedico (chief physician). Before the establishment of this remarkable medical and educational institution there was only one trained midwife in the region. The education of midwives in the Zadar School was based on a textbook Sanitary Standards written by Dr Gerhard van Swieten, health and social reformer in the Habsburgs Monarchy. Until 1918, the School had trained more than 1100 nurses. This evidences how serious and efficient the School was, even though the working conditions were not always favourable, mainly because many of the students were illiterate and poorly educated. A number of remarkable physicians taught the theory and practice of midwifery, and the principals were mostly the protomedicos of Dalmatia or regional sanitary officials. Their knowledge, supervision and teaching ardour maintained the School’s high reputation for many decades. The School closed down with the arrival of the Italian army in Zadar in 1918 and remained closed for thirty years to follow.