ANS. Advances in nursing science
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Historical Article
Creating critical care: the case of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 1950-1965.
This article examines the development of critical care nursing from 1950 to 1965 through the lens of a local story--the development of the critical care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The methodology used is social history. ⋯ The study concludes that powerful social contextual factors, such as work force and economic issues, architectural changes, and an increasingly complex hospital population--rather than new technology--supported the development of critical care. The study also provides parallels to contemporary nurse work force issues.