Abstract

HUAIQUIAN-SILVA, Julia Cristobalina; SILES-GONZALEZ, José  and  VELANDIA-MORA, Ana Luisa. The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God in Colonial Chile. Aquichan [online]. 2013, vol.13, n.2, pp.290-300. ISSN 1657-5997.

Objective: Nursing practices in Chile during the colonial era are described in this research, with special attention to Spain's influence on the process. Method: It is a qualitative study with a social-historical approach. The primary sources are historical texts retrieved from the so-called Chilean Memory in the National Virtual Library of Chile and 34 documents collected from the archives of the Saint John of God Museum, Pisa House, in Granada, Spain, entitled "List of the Brothers of Saint John of God who lived in Chile (207 years) and an Index of Unpublished Documents Copied from the National Historical Archives and those of the Old Hospital by Faustino Calvo." The data, collected through the use of a documentary record designed by the researcher and supplemented with photographs, was studied via content analysis. Results: The Order of Saint John of God arrived in Chile in 1617 at hospitals in Santiago and Concepcion. Later, it spread to the cities of La Serena, Valparaiso, San Juan de la Frontera, Talca, Chillan, Concepcion and Valdivia. The Order remained in Chile for over two hundred years, providing hospital and nursing services through religious care. Conclusion: The arrival in Chile of the Order of Saint John of God undoubtedly improved the organization of health care within hospitals, which were managed thereafter in an organized way, with high standards of hygiene and cleanliness, careful surveillance of patients' diets, and great concern for providing spiritual assistance to those in need of its services.

Keywords : Chile; nursing; hospitals; history of nursing; nursing research.

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