On Tuesday, Claire M. Fagin, who was a renowned expert on, advocate for, and change agent in the profession of nursing, passed away at her home in Manhattan. She was also one of the first women to run an Ivy League university, the University of Pennsylvania. Her age was 97. Charles, her son and the only person who survived her immediately, acknowledged that she had passed away.
In addition to his many other accomplishments, Dr. Fagin is widely regarded with reversing the prevalent practice of severely restricting the number of times parents can visit their children who are hospitalised.
It was the event that occurred in the early 1960s when she and her husband were visiting their little son Joshua, who was hospitalised for hernia surgery. They were told to leave the hospital, which served as both an inspiration and a source of infuriation for her.
Consequently, when she got her doctorate in nursing from New York University in 1964, she decided to make the practice of limiting visits the focus of her dissertation research.
Her discoveries that the procedure was dangerous garnered a lot of attention, and she was even interviewed on television about it. These discoveries was the spark that ignited a change in the way medical treatment was provided.
“She was the one who cracked that,” said Linda H. Aiken, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, where Dr. Fagin was appointed dean in 1977. “She was the one who cracked that.” Dr. Fagin was responsible for the transformation of the school, which included the tripling of the enrollment, the establishment of a PhD programme in nursing, and the development of Penn into a leader in nursing research and education that is highly recognised throughout the world.
During the year 2006, the Nursing Education Building at Penn University was rechristened the Claire M. Fagin Nursing Sciences Building. “It is really difficult to figure out anyone who has had a greater impact on nursing than Claire,” Dr. Aiken remarked. “She has been a pioneer in the field.”
