A nursing pioneer's legacy
In her commencement address to the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Class of 2010, alumna Barbara Brodie鈥攁lready regarded as a 鈥渓iving legend鈥� within the nursing profession鈥攄elivered a simple but compelling message: Treat your patients with dignity, no matter their background.
鈥淒ignity...signifies the human worth of an individual in the eyes of others and in their own estimation of who they are,鈥� said Brodie, PhD, RN, FAAN, a 1957 graduate of Loyola鈥檚 Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. 鈥淒ignity is essential to our very being and enables us to face the world and maintain our place within it.鈥�
That emphasis on the inherent worth of each person鈥攊nstilled as Brodie cared for the poorest of Chicago鈥檚 poor during her clinicals鈥攇uided her throughout her career as a pioneer in the nurse practitioner movement, nurse practitioner education, and nursing history.
While Brodie spent decades at the University of Virginia, where she was founding director of the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, she maintained close ties to her alma mater until her death in February 2023.
She left a large gift to Loyola鈥檚 School of Nursing鈥攐ne colleagues say reflects her commitment to teaching and mentoring the next generation, and to the school鈥檚 guiding principle of service to others.
鈥淏arbara valued her undergraduate education at Loyola and always spoke enthusiastically about Loyola whenever she had the opportunity,鈥� says Loyola Nursing Associate Professor Emerita Karen Egenes, EdD, RN. 鈥淪he said it was important for undergraduates to absolutely love their school and stay attached to it, because it gave them their foundation in nursing.鈥�
Brodie was a pioneer in the nurse practitioner movement, a mission inspired by her work with patients from under-resourced communities鈥攑articularly children鈥攁t the Cook County Hospital during her clinical experiences as a student and early career clinical practice.
鈥淪he was one of the first people who saw pediatric nurse practitioners as a way to bring health care access to lower-income groups that wouldn鈥檛 have had access to health care,鈥� Egenes says.
But Brodie, who was named a 鈥淟iving Legend鈥� by the American Academy of Nursing in 2009 and received Loyola Nursing鈥檚 in 2014 for leadership, is best known for her work in nursing history. She founded the American Association for the History of Nursing and urged schools to make the profession鈥檚 history a standard part of nursing school curricula.
鈥淪he said that the same issues in health care keep reemerging, and we have to learn from approaches used in the past if we want to move forward,鈥� Egenes says. 鈥淪he believed that the issues nurses identify and deal with over time are the ones that end up shaping health care policy.鈥�