[To THZ EDITOR Or THR "SPECTAT070] Sin,—While one must regret
sincerely the treatment which V.A.D. nurses in hospitals occasionally receive from the staff, it is only fair to take into consideration the trials of the trained nurses at the same time. They are working at high pressure, and it must need great patience to teach a proba- tioner how to do things which the nurse herself could do in half the time it takes her to explain them. Of course it is her duty to teach, but that does not make the tax on her temper any less, and perhaps quite half the difficulty lies in the fact that if some people teach grudgingly, at least as many are most ungracious learners i They do not mean to be; far from it. They are keen to learn, but somehow or other—perhaps through nervousness—the beginner does occa- sionally adopt a rather unteachable attitude. Unfortunately unnecessary criticism is extraordinarily attractive to the criticizer, and the failings of the few grow easily into a tradi- tion, which their successors must work faithfully to kill, Prejudices die hard, but a trained nurse has a keen eye for the right qualities for the profession in a "pro." All honour to the numberless women who go to hospital ready to learn everything from the beginning, even to unlearn too if needs be. Such "war pros." will surely succeed in solving the difficulty for themselves, and perhaps also for those who come after them. If they do kill this prejudice they will add still another laurel to the many already reaped by the fine achieve- ments of the Y,A.D. movement.-1 am, Sir, &c., AN ADMIRER OF NURSING.
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