Missed historical opportunities: The foundations of the nursing thought taught in Quebec

Introduction: A discussion paper based on a teaching experience, and presenting a reflective viewpoint developed as part of the university nursing course Theory in Nursing.
Context: A critical look at the historiography and reference works used in nursing courses.
Objectives: To shed new light on the foundations of the nursing discipline by seeking to better integrate the participation of religious communities in the development of nursing knowledge.
Method: Analysis of articles from Recherche en soins infirmiers and a reflective approach influenced by an interdisciplinary perspective linking nursing science, history, and the contribution of Pierre Bourdieu’s work.
Results: Observation of the complete absence of contributions to nursing knowledge before Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) and of a century-long silence after her.
Discussion: Analysis of the observed reflex to disavow the legacy of nursing sisters in Quebec through the analysis of three aspects: the Nightingalian episteme, the historiographical positioning of nurses and historians, and the construction of knowledge based on the experience of the Sisters of Providence at the Hôpital Saint-Jean-de-Dieu.
Conclusion: By ignoring the Franco-Catholic origin of the scientific field of nursing, this disciplinary knowledge deprives itself of a powerful nursing model.