Alice Fisher

Who was Alice Fisher?

Alice Fisher was a nursing pioneer, whose brief career at the Philadelphia General Hospital was transformational.

Born in England, Fisher trained at the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses and served as a superintendent in several hospitals in the UK before coming to the United States in 1884.

Fisher’s father was both an astronomer and a priest. While still at home, she wrote two novels, Too Bright to Last, 1873, and a three-volume His Queen, published, which was published in 1875. It was only after her father’s death in 1873 that she took up nurse training, at the Nightingale School at St Thomas’ Hospital, beginning in 1874.

She was appointed Superintendent at PGH and charged with transforming nursing and medical care at the deteriorated institution. She instituted dramatic improvement in standards of care in the institution and created the hospital's nursing school. Both achievements demonstrated the value of trained nurses in the early years of the profession’s development.

After completing her training, she nursed briefly at two hospitals, the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the Fever Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne.