MATRON & MEDICOS

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1438, 13 May 1912, Page 5

MATRON & MEDICOS

HOSPITAL FEUD. t'' ARRAY OHCHARGES-FiUitlED. j;';MATRON'S REJOINDERS, "" , i THE INQUIRY BEGINS TO-DAY. (■ By Telegraph-Press Afjsociation-CopyMght Auckland, May 11. On Monday incrMing an inquiry iakea place at the Aui&laiid Hospital concerning the-trouble 'wiiic'h Ims occurred belireeu tiie matrpn and the medical and nursing «Uiils. At the invitation of Hie chairman of tire. Hospital Board (.Mr. H. ; Schoiiehl), She chairman of the .Medical • Committee (Dr., Pabst) has .submitted par. ' ticulars of He* complaints made by the ■ ' Medical Conntiittoo against the superintendent. J,hT/,o charges have in turn been ■ , ; submitted to .Miss Griffiths, and her rui idles liave been received. The alloga- ,; lions and 'answers constitute a mass of ■•; type-wnlttai matter, of which the following is ■■« digest:— First Complaint Against Matron. The first eomplav.it made bv the Medical •'■'" l'' Committee is that, tin, lady superintendent. Ims not comaieueed hor duties before 10 . &. a»m. instead of ;it i) a.m. each dav. ~. i Jo this the Matron gives an absolute denial. Her. working dav, she slates, com- • menxes at, 0.15 a.in., and often she ia i-i. unolile to get to hod until after 1! p.m. '• • " ■ U Charges of Insolence. "fit ;•_ Next comes a charge of insolence and-' -•. ■■■■ j lmpoi'tinenco to her superiors. Three *■' rases live cited. T'lje first is to ihe effect '':'■ . j that, on I'obruary 28, when asked bv the 1 ■ ! chairman of tlw. Medical Committee if ■•■ r she had aiiyl.hrng to report, she replied . ' : satirically: "It. is really very nice .if' vrn •::■. to take smilw an interest in ihe liiiisi-.." ?■' s On J'cbnvnr.y 21, in reply to a similar " : question, she retorted that it was n.erely - ; "■■ wasting licr time asking such questions. ';■' ihe .VTrd instance quoted was a hanpeii- ) nig <:«n the sump date,, when, in .rc-.ply. to ..... '■' j n pjquest ihut a certain nurse be sent' ' '" 1: io'i the matron replied that the nurse was- ■ 'engaged on mor» important business"— 1 inspecting sinks and lavatories. i In her reply, the matron points out '!■'' 3 that thero is nothing in the Hospital U t by-laws which entitles the chairman of l'\ he modioli! staff to regard himself as ' her superior. She explains, in reply 'to' " "' ■■, • the first accusation, that she gave a'full si [| report \rp.oii (lie point raised bv Dr. Pubst, l) and i/iode the remark quoted in cnnclu- . -' : . sion -without the slightest intention of •}; satiiv... , . ~,,.,. a .\ ; ; 7 : C.t. the second count,- she staled".that *.. .** :g ) slip, twice gave a verbal report upon a- Jii cprtaiii subject, ami also gave' a great 1 Ueal of time to drafting a report, .which '';' ' Hie Medical Committee refused to receive. ■'■' She admits being annoyed over the,in-; , ;:■ i. cidout, and of having stated that it was ' ;'. ; evident that Hie demands for detailed V, reports in writing were only asked from : i hej with the intention of wasting her ■ :•> time. ;i 3 , In reply to the third complaint,, the • .' t 6 matron states that, when the nurse waa, . '% 3 sent for, she (the matron) explained that {■■ a it would bo difficult to find the nurse Si at that hour, as her first duty was lo- if » carry out an inspection of the lnvafories ! J; 4 and bathrooms. She alleges that tho- ' 2 chairman thereupon became very angry, .. »;) (• and said: "If she' keeps inc wailing five . . Ti , miniites, I will suspend her." fi > Another complaint is that a breach was 'fi '5 committed through leaving Ward No. !■■ ?~ fl without a competent.nurse. In refuting.. 4; 3 this charge, Miss Griffiths points out. "y that the committee itself gave Sister ' si' Crozicr ]iormission to go to New Ply- ' £, i month, and therefore Sister Mucilar-a . ' % gold medallist of last session—was put f; in charge of this ward. She is still in £ it, and has since been promoted, her , '■' • work having always been satisfactorily re- J r ( ported, upon. Other minor charges mo i made. I Charge Re Ward Supervision. A more .serious charge against the mat. " ion is as follows;—" That, the lady super* 17 intendent placed a probationer nurse in »3 charge of a patient suffering from gonnr* g rhoeal ophthalmia, on two occasions, n thereby showing either gross Incompetence or a gross dereliction of duly. On the 8 second occasion, it was done after a reprii maud by the chairman of the Medical 1 Committee." > ■ ;■_ 5 Tiny matron's reply to this is as fol- ■:- . lows:—"When I arrived here in July, !| lilli, there were two junior utnses of-Ave , '. and ..six months' experience respectively i 1' doing special duly-with a small child snf- ■] - fering from tetanus (lockjaw). J nscor- ] « lained from the assistant superintendent \ j " that it had been customary lo place special I cases in small wards, oft big wards, and [ to place two juniors on special duly In . act under tho supervision of (he sister' ;' s ' in charge of the ward. In this way tha ■ ,' r patient actually received more expert al- i f tcntion than if a more !«nior nurse hud 5 been put on special duty, as sister, who :' has probably been nursing some years, i and had seen several cases of tho particular . % disease, while a. nurse that is in training \ would probably be specialising on her ? first case. Nurses in training, doing | special duty, arc never put in charge of .' I tlw cases; they always work under the g supervision of tho sister in charge of the | ward, who is responsible for the case, | J)r. Pabst (continues the umltoii) in- , ;; 1 sisted, on one-occasion, on me getting in ;! ii.l mined private, nurse for a case of his J (ophthalmia), and thus put. the board in % the unnecessary expense of paying-1 hive | [I guineas a week, wlieti one of our nurses. j \ x in training would havo managed quite aj ' | , well, ii" the sister in charge of the ward | " had been allowed to continue the. super ;■; vision of the case." ... | Conflict With Medical Chairman, | The concluding complaint is that, bj | 0 reason of her want of method, the Uulv % p superintendent has systematically failed . ■ g ■- to piomptiv carry out instructions from ' .' ;j the chiiirm'ait of the Medical t'oninnltee A iin regard to various matters pertaining ■ to her duties. . i; To this the matron, replies: there l« | no liv-lnw which empowers (he chainium | of (ho honorary stall'to issue iiistructiHw g to Ihe ladv superintendent, and. as M, 1 visits the Hospital only very occasionally,- v y he is not in a position to jinlgo "f toy % method. 1 regard -myself, as. the..servi:...it y of the board. I am, however, desirous j of meeting his wishes as far us: possible, ~. , , | , for tho harmonious working of I.ic ins> ~ ; .., '' tiition, but I believe ihut llio " ?, bwd would exiiect me lo beat the bcrlf s y ami call of the chairman of the honorary - J ft staff. "'. r ' ~ I "It is not. possible vo form any tin* ' « i- from cnsiiiil visits-, of the vast ainounr nf. jj o labour entailed in the maiiasemeiif at n. .;: f large institution of the sißo of the Auelt- lland Hospital. The work of the HospiliU 9 and of the Nurses' Home takes up a eon- ' J sidcrnbie portion of the twenty-four hours, ,| ■A" slated lief ore, my working day com- i monces at G. 15 a.m., ami often noes not « tt end till after II p.m, I cannot believe | s (hat the board expects its officers fo v.-ork | ;'. such very long hours." ........