LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE NURSING CRISIS
should like to make a few comments on the article, The Nursing Crisis, in your issue of March 14th. I have' been intimately connected with the nursing profession for a great many years, and I find Dr. Somerville Hastings' remarks contradictory and not very illuminating. The curriculum in preliminary training schools consists of : (a) Instruction in elementary anatomy and physiology, the aim being to present it simply and with regard to its practical application. (b) Hygiene— instruction in the principles of personal health and the measures taken to safeguard the health of the community, ventilation, drainage schemes, water supplies, cleanliness of milk, prevention of infection, &c. (c) Dietetics and cookery. (d) Practical nursing to prepare the student nurse for her work in the wards. Dr. Somerville Hastings speaks of these subjects as " academic jargon " and " pseudo-science," "none of which has the remotest connection with nursing the sick." Surely it is quite cbvious that these subjects, properly taught, are most intimately connected with nursing the sick and with much of the work in the health services that many nurses undertake after training. In another paragraph he states that the nurse must be regarded "more as a colleague and less as a servant of the doctor." It is difficult to work as a colleague if one does not speak the same professional language. To relieve the strain on the student nurse Dr. Somerville Hastings suggests that she should be treated like any other student—with plenty of holidays and a limited time each day in the wards, with opportunities for lectures, classes and so on. Apart from the impracticability of this, unless the wards were staffed by trained nurses to care for the patients, one cannot imagine any arrange- ment less likely to please either patients or student nurses. The joy of nursing is the establishment of a close relationship between patient and nurse, and patients, when they are ill and dependent upon others, dislike above all things constant changes of personnel.
I do not agree that the low remuneration of the student nurse is a reason for the present shortage of nurses. I do not think that £55 to £75 per year with full board and lodging in comfortable nurses' homes, daily hot baths, medical and dental attention, uniform and laundry and professional training is an unfair deal. In fact, I think that the living conditions of student nurses are probably better than those of any other students in the country.. They seem to be equally good in most types of hospitals, not only the large training schools. and the £55 to £75 is really pocket money. The emoluments of a resident sister, too, are excellent.
In conclusion, I should like to suggest a few constructive points which might help matters. (a) Reorganise the domestic services in the wards. No wonder the wastage in the nursing profession is forty per cent. or more when would-be nurses are prevented from nursing by having to do so much domestic work. Things are improving a little in this respect, but if more domestic help could be obtained, girls would not become so tired and discouraged. It is a vicious circle to be demanding more nurses and then to put them to do the work of domestic staff. (b) Provide compulsory post-graduate courses for sisters in training schools. The more devoted the sister to her work the more limited in outlook she is bound to become unless she can get away from it at intervals. Such refresher courses would react beneficially upon sisters, student nurses and patients alike. (c) " Bridging the gap " is always difficult—to fill in the time from sixteen to eighteen years of age. Almost any kind of work other than nursing is useful, and the wider the ex- perience of a girl who eventually becomes a nurse, the more help she can be to patients in their troubles. (d) The training of the student nurse in the wards should be strict, and she should be imbued with a high sense of duty and self-discipline in the interests of her patients. The girls who take up nursing are prepared for this, and provided the discipline is reasonable and just they can take it, and, in fact, appreciate it. Nurses have themselves told me they have given up other more remunerative work because it is too easy. In contrast to their exacting work when on duty, they should have every opportunity for relaxation and freedom when off duty. (e) The governing bodies of many hospitals should Make better arrangements for the nurses' lectures and study periods. There are many schemes on trial at the moment, the relative value of which it is not possible to appraise in this letter.—Yours truly, (Sister Tutor).
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