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These days, the name “Carrie Hall” may be most used in reference to a popular BWH conference room, but the woman whose namesake it bears holds a place of honor in the history of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the profession of Nursing.
Hall founded the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital School of Nursing in 1912 and formalized education for nurses. She expanded classroom education, developing a three-year curriculum with lectures on pharmacology, basic sciences, practical nursing and surgical and medical disease. The school graduated its first class of five nurses in 1915.
Hall, who helped set the Brigham’s model for high standards, trained nurses in proper hygiene, patient care, record-keeping and ward cleanliness, which was essential in preventing infection from spreading.
In World War 1, Hall was named chief nurse of the American Red Cross in England, and later France, in recognition of her leadership and organization skills. She returned to her post at the Peter Bent Brigham in 1919 to focus on the immediate needs of nursing in the post-war era.
Hall formally retired in 1937, but her legacy of delivering high quality care to patients in the safest environment has been carried forth by generations of nurses.