International Transfer of Nursing Knowledge: Professor Loretta Heidgerken's "Unit Learning" Model

Time: 12:15 p.m.

Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Abstract: In the 1950s the Danish matron sister Benedicte Ramsing (1912-1988) introduced American Professor Loretta Heidgerken's (1908- ) “Unit Learning” model into Danish Nursing. Sister Benedicte implemented successfully the model in the (Catholic) School of Nursing under her leadership, but she failed to get the model accepted in general. History has, however, shown that “Unit Learning” later became dominant in the Danish nursing curriculum. This case study examines the roots, expressions and significance of transfer of nursing knowledge between the United States and Denmark in the period 1945-1970. The study specifically focuses on Loretta Heidgerken's “Unit Learning,” which originated from the Catholic University of America. Two main questions will be examined. How was the model described, put into practice and accepted in the United States? And in which way did region, culture and professional and religious affiliation influence the transfer of nursing knowledge?

Susanne Malchau Dietz is Associate Professor of the Institute of Public Health and Department of nursing Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.