The Kaiser Permanente Nursing Legacy involved a partnership with the Kaiser Foundation School of Nursing (KFSN) and the Nurse Scholars Academy following the dedication of a bronze statue, “The Heart of Health Care,” to commemorate the opening of the new Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in 2013 and celebrate the influence of Kaiser Permanente’s early nurses who helped actualize Henry J. Kaiser’s and Dr. Sydney Garfield’s vision of “Total Health.” Their bold, disruptive legacy was full of unprecedented education, leadership, and clinical innovations, including a doctoral-prepared nurse director, master’s prepared faculty, and a wholly independent school of nursing that opened in 1947.
The Nurse Scholars Academy championed the publication of the KFSN Story in 2018 and published a book in 2020 entitled “Kaiser Foundation School of Nursing: A Legacy of Disruptive Innovation, 1947-1976.” The authentic voice of our earliest clinical nurses and consequential nurse leaders was captured and will remain available for generations. The legacy of Kaiser Permanente Nursing and the rich history of its professional nursing journey within a rogue integrated medical model shaped the strategic priorities of the NSA and its programs, ensuring the Kaiser Permanente legacy of nursing lives on in every Kaiser Permanente nurse today.
The collaborative labor of love resulted in producing award-winning videos featuring interviews with KFSN graduates who represented the earliest advanced practice nurses, educators, and nurse leaders in Kaiser Permanente. In honoring our vibrant legacy as Kaiser Nurses, we honor those whose shoulders we stand upon and ensure the spirit and voice of those early nurses who continue to innovate, educate, and illuminate the professional practice of Kaiser Permanente Nurses well into the future! We invite every Kaiser Permanente nurse to explore and learn more about the Kaiser Permanente Nurse Legacy book, articles, videos, and stories here on the NSA website.