America’s First Training Program for Nurses In 1798, New York Hospital attending surgeon Dr. Valentine Seaman (1770-1817) recognized the need for a specially trained group of women to assist the doctors at his hospital. As a result, he began one of America’s first nurse training programs. Seaman instructed a class of about 24 women in anatomy, physiology, childcare, and mid-wifery. Two years later, some of his lectures were published with the title, Midwives’ Monitor and Mothers’ Mirror. During the Civil War, Clara Barton helped bring the role of nurses to prominence. In 1881, she established the American Red Cross.