Annie Altschul

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Annie Altschul (born February 18, 1919 in Vienna , † December 24, 2001 in London ) was an Austrian nurse , nursing scientist and theoretician of psychiatric care. She is considered a pioneer in her field.

Life

Childhood in Vienna

Annie Altschul spent her childhood in a social democratically active Jewish family in Vienna . Her father, Ludwig Altschul, had a fatal accident when she was five years old, and so she was not spared some financial hardships as a child and adolescent. Due to her talent, however, she got a free position at their secondary school from the Vienna Women's Acquisition Association in Vienna 4, and it was possible for the mother, Marie Altschul, to have her daughter take her Matura on June 17, 1937. Together with her friend Lucie Smetana (married Fowler), Annie Altschul began studying mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna in the winter semester of 1937/38 . Lucie Smetana studied medicine. Due to the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, Annie Altschul was unable to continue studying in the 1938 summer semester, but was expelled from the university for “racial” reasons. The family managed to emigrate to London just in time. The only property they could take with them to England was an oil painting depicting an Austrian landscape and which Annie kept as her greatest treasure until the end of her life.

Nurse in London

In London, Annie Altschul, like many other refugees, first worked as a nanny and domestic help and began training as a nurse and midwife at Epsom County Hospital. Caring for mentally traumatized WWII soldiers became a key experience for Annie Altschul. She therefore trained in psychiatric care at Mill Hill School in north London. As early as 1946, Annie Altschul was employed as a teaching nurse at the renowned Maudsley Hospital. She also began studying psychology at Birkbeck College in London and completed a one-year stay in the USA in 1961/62 at the Boston University School of Nursing.

Nursing scientist in Edinburgh

In 1964 she became a lecturer in the Department of Nursing Studies at Edinburgh University . This position was converted into a professorship in 1984. Altschul published two books with the titles “Psychiatric Care” and “Psychology for Nursing Professions”. Her interest in psychologically traumatized people led her to conduct a study at a psychiatric hospital at the end of the 1960s to research the “relationship between the patient and the carer”. With this study, Annie Altschul came to the astonishing result that relationships between caregivers and patients only come about through non-routine interactions. The study is still one of the classics of psychiatric nursing research.

The nursing science colleagues in Edinburgh included Nancy Roper , Winifred Logan and Alison Tierney , who developed the nursing model of life activities that has been an integral part of nursing science since the 1980s and is based on the " sex res non naturales " of Hippocratic dietetics.

Advisor to the World Health Organization

Altschul became temporary advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and toured several countries to present their study. She gave several lectures at the management school of the Swiss Red Cross in Aarau . In 1984 she was invited by the European Nurse Researchers to Vienna to give a lecture entitled “Nursing Research for a Better Care”. Altschul was a member of the "Socialist Medical Association" and donated the "Professor Annie Altschul Publication Prize".

Ruth Schröck, Influence on German Nursing Science

The nursing scientist, first professor for nursing science in Germany, Ruth Schröck , was a doctoral student of Annie Altschul. Schröck is one of the founding members of the German Society for Nursing Science. Other German nursing scientists were also drawn to the University of Edinburgh , such as Marianne Arndt and Reinald Schmidt-Richter, who acquired an academic title there with the support of the Robert Bosch Foundation .

Time after retirement

After her retirement, Altschul turned back to her original Viennese passion of studying mathematics, updated her knowledge for teaching children who had always been particularly close to her heart, and worked as a volunteer teacher in a primary school.

Shortly before her death, a one-day celebratory event was held in honor of Annie Altschul. Annie Altschul died on December 24, 2001 in London (other sources speak of Edinburgh) after declining the option of permanent dialysis due to bilateral kidney failure.

Honors

  • Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for her commitment to the interests and rights of traumatized patients.

Publications

As an author

literature

  • Schröck, Ruth: Annie Altschul - February 18, 1919 to December 24, 2001 , in: Psychiatrische Pflege , Thieme Verlag Stuttgart, 8 (2002), pp. 120–122.
  • Schröck, Ruth: Interactions between nurses and patients - a classic study in acute psychiatry , in: Pflege. The scientific journal for nursing professions Huber Bern et.al. 16 (2003), pp. 17-25.
  • Gogl, Anna (Editorial): Annie Altschul 1919 2001 , in: Pflege. The scientific journal for nursing professions , Huber Bern et al. 16 (2003), pp. 2-5.
  • Horst-Peter Wolff: Annie Altschul, in: Horst-Peter Wolff (Hrsg.): Biographical lexicon for nursing history “Who was who in nursing history” , Vol. 3, Elsevier Munich 2004, pp. 11 + 12.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ University of Vienna: Memorial book for the victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna: Annie Altschul, constant update.
  2. ↑ Laurence Dopson. Royal College of Nursing: Virtual Monument "Righteous of Nursing". Annie Altschul, accessed April 19, 2020. Digitized
  3. ^ UK Center for the History of Nursing, Manchester: Professor Annie Altschul , Festschrift, accessed November 19, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Altschul, Annie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian nursing scientist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 2001
Place of death London