PAYMENT OF NURSES.

Shannon News, 15 October 1929, Page 4

PAYMENT OF NURSES.

RATE SHOULD BE ADEQUATE. Auckland, Oct. 3. The opinion that it was not necessary for a girl to enter the nursingprofession with high ideals and the belief that she should not expect good wages and conditions because she was taking up an altruistic calling was expressed by Miss M. Lambie at a conference of trained nurses in the Auckland Hospital nurses’ home. Reference to the types of girls taken into training schools was made by the previous speaker, and Miss Lambie stated that a girl who had not had an adequate home training was the one who would provide a large problem. A study of her mental outlook would be valuable and essential. There were important aspects to be considered in such a materialistic age as the present. It could not be expected that a girl would enter a calling in these days purely with high ideals and with no desire to make an adequate competence.

“I know I may have a good deal of opposition in regard to this aspect of the 'subject,” Miss Lambie said. “I feel we have got to the stage where the nursing profession should offer an adequate salary so that' girls entering it can do so as a means of livelihood.” It was all very well for the old state Of affairs to hold while there were not so many avenues open. The emancipation of woman had cast a different complexion on the question. The modern girl turned her head in the direction of a calling in which She could earn a good salary, and if the nursing profession were to attract young women it would have to keep pace with the times in that respect. A girl taking up nursing had a perfect right to regard it as a means of earning a livelihood.

On the other hand, it was essential that a girl should hold high ideals if she were to be a nurse in the wider sense of the word'. These could be imparted to her in the training schools, and if they understood the home conditions of the girl before she went to hospital it would be possible for them to do this. There was an important place for idealism in the profession, but it should not be allowed to override the fact that those who undertook the work were entitled to reasonable remuneration.