Patricia Violet Slater
OBE (1918-1990)
Patricia Slater became Head of the School of Nursing at the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences when the College of Nursing, Australia merged with the Institute in 1977. The College was a well-established, independent college of advanced education that had provided advanced learning for registered nurses over the previous 27 years. In the 1970s, the College became vulnerable when its funding came under threat. As director of the College (1965-1977) Patricia Slater initiated discussions with the Institute that resulted in the merger.
At the time of the merger, Slater had been director of the College since 1965. In that time her reputation as an expert in nursing and nursing education in particular, had become firmly established and the numbers of students graduating from the College’s programs had increased fourfold. Most significantly, the College became the first provider of tertiary level, pre-registration education in the country in 1974, a move that Slater sought and fully supported.
A foremost thinker about nursing and its future, Slater advocated for reform in nursing education. She argued that nurses of the future required a wider and deeper knowledge base and changed values, attitudes and behaviours to continue to provide the best possible nursing care to the community. She promoted radical change in what, how and where nursing students were prepared. Her ideas were published in a paper titled ‘Goals in Nursing Education’. Subsequently endorsed by the national nursing organisations, the paper encompassed all categories of nurses and all existing forms of nurse education. It expressed the profession’s aspirational view for its future. The profession mounted two political campaigns at federal level to win the government’s support for the move; they succeeded the second time in 1983. The government announced the change on August 1984.
As Head of School at Lincoln, Slater’s commitment to change and educational development continued. In 1979, the School introduced the first post-registration degree of two years duration for nurses already registered; the undergraduatebachelor of applied science nursing was introduced in 1980 and plans for a master degree were begun. Slater retired in 1983, after 47 years in the nursing profession, 27 of them in nursing education. She died in 1990. One of the most significant nurses of the twentieth century, she was honoured in her life time for her vision, commitment and leadership.
(Written by Helen Hamilton PhD)
Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences 