The Scarcity of Nurses Two factors are considered by the
Scottish Departmental Committee on Nursing whose report was published on Tuesday, to contribute to the scarcity of nurses: These are the competition of other careers open to women, and the unfavourable conditions of service ; and the committee recommends shorter hours, higher pay, and universal and interchangeable pensions. Admirable as are these recom- mendations they go only part way towards a real solution of the problems involved. Much of the present discontent could be removed and a valuable supply of good candidates secured along the lines indicated in the committee's report if, for instance, nurses could be relieved of the menial tasks which at present take up about half their time, and if they could be freed from a discipline of a type which has been superseded in most other walks in life. But the first require- ment is for the heads of the nursing world to do as doctors, dentists, school-teachers, journalists and others have done and erect effective safeguards around their profession by demanding that candidates shall possess the necessary credentials. Properly established Nursing Colleges along the lines of Teachers' Training Colleges should be another feature of the radical reconstruction which is needed. The committee which has just reported recommends wider propaganda on behalf of nursing in Press and pulpit. Such propaganda would be more justified and less necessary if the nursing profession were fundamentally reorganised.
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