THE HOURS OF NURSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 263, 2 August 1919, Page 9

THE HOURS OF NURSES

SOME' SUGGESTIONS. Sir,—The discussion in The Dominion re the hours, of work of nurses is most interesting. As an ex-nurse, trained in the Old Country, may 1 add a few thoughts on tho subject? . Perhaps if a larger staff were employed the work would not be so arduous— where, say, GO nurses were cmployod, the work divided into two shifts of 30 would be less' trying than three shifts of 20. At present the period of training is four year.;—actually one-third of four years in the wards. If the hours of duty are curtailed, will not the experience also bo curtailed? And may I make a plea for the patient—not, I think, so far mentioned. Is it well to have so many changes in his,attendants? Dow it give the nui'so sufficient time and opportunity for observation? I think the tendency in hospitals is to give tho nurses too much work—too few hands to do tho work—and so kill the interest in tho scientific side of tho training. There is so much time passed in rushing through ward work, there is often little time to watch the progress of the cases, or to talto intelligent'notes of them. The ward must 'bo tidy, brasses bright, beds straight, etc., and I think we are losing the old ideal of nursing and of the hospital as a place where the sick are cared for, and because of thi9 caro make of it a iraining school that moro sick may bo cared for. Could not a way bo devised to lessen tho nurse's work without lessening her experience? This seems the more desirable here as the population does not 'admit of tho wide experience given in the crowded cities of England and tho United States.—l am, otc, OBSERVED. .