BOUND BY TRADITION

NZ Truth, Issue 1205, 3 January 1929, Page 15

BOUND BY TRADITION

Burden of [Thejtorcke^^ Where is there a man who keeps Ms collar"on, or does not pull off his cOat and roll up his sleeves when a problem; qonies ' along that requires' getting right down to it? _Is there a housewife who laces herself u_d tight when the scrubbing board is clearr ed for action ? 7 '■.'"■ .": b" : b

COMMON .sense tells Us that freedom of movement makes for. efficiency, 7 and the ordinary individual throws off the hampering grip, of Conventional clothing .when the elbow : is : called into /the breach on Urgent business; : >b _ NOt so the hospital nurse. Beset oh. . all. sides by bindirigtra-dition she is forced to go aboiit her work m collars. and cuffs' arid . Waist bairids that keep her as stiff as any wax model; . No orie works harder than the staff nurses of the modem hospitals; ho one deserves more praise; .no one is asked ' to bear the bui'dens of tradition more than they. ' ."-■■■■ '"" , - ;b Is it 7 possible With the uniform - that a n,urse is bbuhd by regulation to wear when oh' 7. duty that . She , can give, the efficiency demanded ' of her? y 7 ■'"''■ V, . : ',:y'[ Looking over : the 7 laundry bill recently, the chairman of the SOUth Canterbury Hospital Board (E. Macdonald) remarked to tha meeting that no one could say, that the nurses were able to . work In • cOfilf Of t When their Wtists were bourijd by Stift' CUffs,'

Mrs. Dr. W. H. Unwin replied: "I do not think the cuffs interfere with the efficiency of the nurSe. The cuffs are worn to . show -respect to .persons entering the wards." - . „ ■ > Macdonald: Yes, but the nurses have continually to be slipping their cuffs on arid off for that purpose. Mrs. Unwin: I think respect is, due to the doctors. . ' ", Macdonald: I appreciate the fact that a doctor is entitled to respect. But, hoW many times a day is a nurse obliged to take off and don ' her cuffs 1 She is ohly allowed two pair a week, and if she soils lhore than that she has to wash them herself. . Mrs. Unwin: "Well, I can only , .hope that it -.never' comes abbut that the nurses Will be permitted . not to wear cuffs. .■ • And so while peOple bbeiieve thai respect is ba quality Which must M demonstrated and shown off like one's ancestral' heirlooms, it seems that: the hospital nurse must go;; on bearing the cramping torture or her. atfSlightjacket—the regulation uniform. 7 b .-.-. -.i-'b ■'■•':'•-' '".■■■ ,-" : "' ■■'. --' '. •'j";.-."... , -' : ' r'-"r- 'rt.-yr-r