Annie Altschul, CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, FRCN

Royal College of Nursing

The Royal College of Nursing is a union membership organisation with over 395,000 members in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1916, receiving its Royal Charter in 1928, Queen Elizabeth II is the patron...

 (b. 18 February 1919, Vienna – d. 24 December 2001, Edinburgh) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 nurse, midwife, researcher and educator.

Early years

Born in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Annie Therese Altschul was five years old when her father was killed in a railway accident. She was studying mathematics at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 when she and her family fled the Anschluss

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

 in 1938, winding up in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Career

She trained as a nurse and midwife at Epsom County Hospital. In 1946 Altschul became a staff nurse at the Maudsley Hospital, a psychiatric centre. In 1964 Altschul left Maudsley to be a lecturer in the Department of Nursing Studies at Edinburgh University. In 1972 Altschul wrote Patient-Nurse Interaction. In 1976 she became Professor of Nursing Studies, and remained at Edinburgh University until her retirement in 1983.

Observations

Prof. Altschul observed the effects when patients were moved to smaller accommodations during the redecoration of the large wards at Dingleton mental hospital in the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

. She observed that the closer interaction between nurses and patients resulted in less hyperactivity and less need for certain types of
medications.

Affiliations

• Mental Health Commission in Scotland
• The Socialist Medical Association
• The Scottish General Nursing Council
• Royal College of Nursing
  Royal College of Nursing
  The Royal College of Nursing is a union membership organisation with over 395,000 members in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1916, receiving its Royal Charter in 1928, Queen Elizabeth II is the patron...
  
  

Honours/legacy

She was appointed CBE in 1983. She established the
Professor Annie Altschul Publication Prize.

External links

• Obituary in The Independent