Instrumental in affecting change from solely hospital-only training, to formal nursing degrees within tertiary institutions.
Notable work
A Professional Pilgrimage: a History of the Florence Nightingale Committee of Australia, 1946-1993
Honours
Member of the Order of Australia
Merle Elecia ParkesAM (born 19 May 1927) is a pioneer nurse educator[1] who spent the bulk of her extensive career championing quality education for nurses in Australia. Parkes was eventually instrumental in affecting change from solely hospital-only training, to formal nursing degrees within tertiary institutions. In 1979, under Parkes's guidance, the Western Australian Institute of Technology (later Curtin University of Technology) became the first Australian tertiary institution to receive approval for a nursing degree program, which catalysed a National shift from hospital-based training to university-based education for the nursing profession.[1]
Parkes received her initial nursing training in New South Wales, before moving to Western Australia in 1962, and subsequently to Tasmania in 1983 for the remainder of her career.[2][3]
Parkes was awarded the AM – Member of the Order of Australia – in the Australia Day Honours list in 1982 for services to nursing.[4]
In 2002, her book A Professional Pilgrimage: a History of the Florence Nightingale Committee of Australia, 1946-1993 was published.[5]
^ ab"Merle Parkes AM". 50 Years of Innovation | Curtin University. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^Centre, The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research. "Parkes, Merle Elicia - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^"Parkes, Merle Elicia, (AM) (1929-) - People and organisations". Trove. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^"Commonwealth of Australia Gazette - Jan 26 1982" (PDF).
^Parkes, Merle E. (2002). A professional pilgrimage : a history of the Florence Nightingale Committee of Australia, 1946-1993. Burwood, NSW: New South Wales College of Nursing. ISBN 978-1-877060-12-0. OCLC 52853013.
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