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Thomas Jefferson University

Diploma School of Nursing

Jan 9, 2025

Cindy Lefler

The Thomas Jefferson University Diploma School of Nursing began in 1891; its first class graduated with 13 students. The rigorous three-year curriculum focused on traditional vocational training for young women seeking to enter the profession. In 1973, the program admitted its first male student. The last diploma nurse class graduated in 1982, when the college transitioned to a baccalaureate program.

Today, there are approximately 1,000 alumni of the program throughout the country. The Diploma Nurses’ Alumni Association is a robust organization committed to remaining connected socially, caring for its members with financial assistance for medical needs, and supporting current and future nurses with scholarships to further their education.

BFFs in Nursing and Life

Patricia DeHart, RN, BSBA, CDE and Eileen Cooney-McDevitt, RN, Class of 1977

Patricia DeHart and Eileen Cooney-McDevitt are sitting side by side, chatting, laughing, and reminiscing, much the way they’ve done for the past 50 years.

The women consider themselves part of an elite group—graduates of the Jefferson Diploma School of Nursing. They were assigned as roommates in 1974 and have been best friends ever since.

For half a century, they’ve hung out together, double-dated with their husbands together, cheered on the Phillies together, shared stories about their careers and families together, and supported their beloved alma mater together.

“We chose Jefferson because the diploma program was one of the top programs in the country,” says DeHart, who only recently retired from nursing and serves on the board of the Diploma Nurses’ Alumni Association.

DeHart followed a family tradition in entering the field of healthcare—her father and brother were both graduates of Jefferson.

“I’m very interested in seeing people get well and stay well,” she says, adding that nursing offers a multitude of options. “Nursing is a field where you can grow as your interests grow. You can start in med-surg and end up being an OB-GYN nurse. I worked in pharmaceutical for a while, and then I went back to being a diabetes educator.”

Cooney-McDevitt says she chose nursing to improve the lives of her patients and balance having a career with raising her family.

Throughout the past five decades, the two have noticed great chances in nursing education and practice.

Up until 1974, the students were not allowed to wear pants to class, and their uniforms were pale pink dresses with caps. The dorm for female nurses was the Martin building, which was supervised by a house mother the ladies refer to as “The Hammer.”

“There were no visitors allowed on your floor. If you had a date, the house mother would announce over the audio system ‘Miss Maro, you have a caller in the lobby,’” DeHart recalls.

“And you had to be in by midnight, otherwise you were locked out,” adds Cooney-McDevitt.

And there were no cellphones or landlines in the rooms.

“There was only one phone in the hall, and you had to wait in line to get a call,” says Cooney-McDevitt. “We had common showers, common bathrooms, and so we really learned how to get along with people and how to find the best in others. It taught you patience and fostered a lot of closeness.”

But it wasn’t all strict rules and regulations. “Sunbathing was allowed on the rooftop of the Martin building,” says Cooney-McDevitt. That is, until some took “liberties” and sparked a ban on the practice.

“Topless sunbathing,” DeHart says, laughing.

Of all the changes the two women have witnessed over the years, the biggest is the technological advances in the field.

“Our technology was nonexistent,” says Cooney-McDevitt.

Today, nurses have mobile computer units on wheels that travel with them into patient rooms, carrying all the information they need. “We were documenting our meds in a Kardex (a medical patient information system that used forms preprinted on card stock),” she says. “We had ventilators that just basically pumped air and a balloon pump that became an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a life-support procedure that uses a machine to help a patient’s heart and lungs function).”

As nurses, they learned the new and ever-changing technology through continuing education courses.

Perhaps the biggest game-changer in patient care for both the patient and the nurse was the alternating air pressure mattress, DeHart says.

“Back in 1977, in order to prevent bed sores, we turned patients manually every two hours and stuffed pillows behind them. (The air mattress) helped the patients, and it took a lot of pressure off of the nurses who were really moving heavy patients back and forth every two hours.”

For all the changes they’ve seen, the mission always remains the same: to make a positive impact on the lives of others. DeHart points to the volunteer opportunities offered by the diploma nurse program.

“I traveled to Guatemala seven times. You go and you see people who have never seen a doctor, and you can see an immediate change in their life after one nebulizer treatment,” says DeHart, who is planning another volunteer mission in early 2025. “A nurse makes such a big impact, not only physically, but emotionally.”

Cooney-McDevitt agrees, adding, “I brought my nursing education into every aspect of my life. You really learn a lot from taking care of sick people and their families. You learn compassion.”

The women offer advice to those going into the field today.

DeHart recommends anyone considering a career in nursing to “get a job in the field immediately as a nurse’s aide, or in a nursing home, or any area where you can get a taste of nursing so that you’re really sure this is the field you want to be successful in.”

“Keep your heart in it,” adds Cooney-McDevitt. “Keep your love of people and patients in it. And never stop learning!”

An Ever-Changing Profession

Debbie Allen, RN, BS Ed, CCRN, Class of 1976

For the Thomas Jefferson University Diploma Nurse program, 1973 was a year of firsts.

“It was the first class that was able to wear pants to class, the first to have a male student, the first to have a married student, and the first to have someone graduate who had a child,” says Debbie Allen.

Before 1973, the program consisted of young single women who lived in a dorm that was strictly guarded by house mothers. Allen muses that “a lot has changed” since then, including how nurses are trained.

“The first day at Jefferson, you were assigned a clinical, you were set up to go and do hands-on work in a particular department,” says Allen, who entered the program upon graduating high school at 16. “You were placed into situations and learned very quickly how to care for your patients.”

Today, says Allen, students don’t get the same type of hands-on experience. While they are placed in clinical settings with patient interactions right away, they are provided with virtual learning modules before performing care and procedures on patients.

And that’s a good thing, she says. “The technology allows nurses to train on virtual patients before actual patients, which saves a lot of mistakes from happening.”

Allen, who spent the majority of her career in critical care, retired from floor nursing in 2004. She then became a school nurse educator, moved on to the pharmaceutical industry as a trainer, and now works as a medical writer.

She says that is the beauty of nursing. “It’s a profession that once you get into it, you have so many opportunities; with a nursing education, you’re able to do anything you want to do.”

Allen knew at the age of seven that she wanted to be a nurse. And she knew that Jefferson’s program was the only one for her. “It was the only place that I applied to. I came for a visit and fell in love with Jefferson.”

“It was, and still is, very well respected, so to be accepted into the program made you feel so proud,” she says. “It also provided an opportunity where we as women could make a decent income.”

When Allen graduated, the salary for a nurse was $4.25 an hour; after passing the boards for an RN, the salary was increased to $4.50 an hour. The added advantage was being able to work while raising a family, an important aspect for women at the time.

There are about 1,000 diploma nurses still around, and the alumni association works to make sure that they stay in touch with each other. The organization sends a bulletin out once a year and holds an annual luncheon that brings between 150 and 180 alumni—some of them in their 90s—to campus.

“In addition, everybody who is 80 and above receives flowers from the alumni association on their birthday,” she says. “A lot of people are alone or living in nursing homes at this point in their lives, and they’re so appreciative. We really do take care of our own.”

Taking care of their own includes financial assistance to ensure that they have the healthcare they need, access to hearing aids and other equipment to keep them safe in their homes, and a safety net for household bills if necessary. It also includes financial assistance for continuing education for graduates pursuing master’s degree or doctoral programs.

While nursing can be a demanding—and sometimes sad—profession, Allen says it’s quite rewarding.

“For example, when you see patients come in and you do not think they’re going to leave that unit, but you give them such good care that three months later they come back and bring you doughnuts saying, ‘Thank you so much for keeping me alive.’

“There’s such a satisfaction you get from being a nurse, but you have to have the heart and stomach and stamina for it.”