SURPLUS OF NURSES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 113, 5 January 1932, Page 6

SURPLUS OF NURSES

UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSED BY TOO MANY TRAXNXNG. DEPARTMENT'S PROBLEM A surplus of' trained nurses in Now Zealand, whieh is giving rise to un employment, is causing concern to thr Health Department. Large number.' pass through the hospitals annuallv. and the result is that it is becomirw increasingly hard to plaeo those quali fying, just as it is proving more dif ficult to find permanent work for those completing courses at the teach ers' training colleges. It is likely that a definite mov. will have to be made to reduce th number of nurses undergoing training, for it is acknowledged that famore are being trained at prese-P than can be absorbed in a country o" the size of New Zealand. In addii iou the effects of depression overseas hav reacted upon the nursing professior for positions in other countrios arrapidly becoming fewer. Foreign travel and experience have frequentk* been undertaken by New Zealand nur ses, but chances of finding worl abroad are now slight. Reference to this problem is mad in the annual reoort of Miss J. Bwk nell on the eve of her retirement from the position of director of the Division of Nursing. She says that i' would appear that in future it migh1 become necessary for hospital board to consider employing a larger pro portion of trained staff, as a way ou' of the difficulty. "The cost of buildings could he ma terially redured. for a proportion o'1 the trained staff could live out * and attend "daily for ^ the specified hour of dutv. as do women in other walk of life,77 Miss Bicknell says. "WiF a number of girls undergoing trai'->ir"* the case is entirely different. The" must for their own nroteotion he un der supervision and guidanc1 mt' 'they have attem^d a measure of self reliance and stability. "At the present moment the TTnited States is suffering from a surplus er trained nurses, and an ir.vestigatio" is being carried out in order to fin-1 some means of overcoming the dif ficulty and of improving the standard and distribution of nursing services It is there suggested that a large1 pronortion of trained nurses would result in more skilled nursing 'of tho sick and more efficient training of tho pupil. An inquiry of somewhat similar nature is being held in'England so it will be seen that the question is a very real one,"