NURSING AS A CAREER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 110, 1 August 1941, Page 46

NURSING AS A CAREER

Field Where Woman Holds Complete Supremacy

Last week we published a letter by "Registered Nurse" on the subject of nursing as a career. This correspondent also sent us an article on that subject, written by Miss J. I. Martin, Tutor Sister, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, which appeared in the " Education Gazette" of June 1. 1939. We reprint the article here in condensed form in the belief that it will be of interest to many of our readers. "There is no higher mission in this life than nursing God’s poor. In doing so a woman may not reach the ideals of her soul. she may fall far short of the ideals of her head, but she will go far to satiate those longings of the heart from which no woman can escape.’’-Osler. one must study it from at least two points of view. Firstly, what are we willing to put in to the making of it? Our intelligence, integrity, loyalty, enthusiasm, and service, are all essentials if we are going to make a success of it. Secondly, what is it going to bring to us? Is it going to fulfil our desire for service, our intellectual desires — widening our horizon, broadening our viewsand develop our personality? Is it going to satisfy our desire for independence? Will it fulfil our longing for a life of variety and interest? eee: a eee iz choosing a profession or a career

In these days there are many careers open to women, and they can compete successfully with men in many professions. There is one, however, in which woman holds complete supremacy, and that is nursing. Wide Range of Opportunities For those who choose this career and bring to it their ideals, their enthusiasm, and their spirit of service, it will indeed prove a happy one, and there are few professions which open up such a range of opportunities for the intelligent educated woman, for the nurse is to be found not only in the hospital, but in the community, in schools, in | industry, rendering organised service under medical supervision for the care of the sick and the prevention of disease and the promotion of health,

It is not to the Sairey Gamps of Dickens that the ancestry of the modern nurse is to be traced. Sairey was but an unhappy incident in the history of nursing. The ancestors of the modern nurse are the noble abbesses and early christian women who endeavoured to do for their day what the present-day nurse is trying to do for hers. To our modern ideas it seems incredible that the nursing of the sick one hundred years ago was in the hands of drunkards and profligates, but unfortunately Sairey Gamp or her prototype did exist, and during this dark and unhappy period no dignity was attached to the office of nurse. The world knows of Florence Nightingale’s work in the Crimean War, but it is not so widely realised that from this work nursing emerged from the degradation of years to lead the way in organising the first real system of vocational training for women along modern lines. Schools for Nurses Even the briefest survey of these will convince one that the women who assist in this work must be fitted for it, and it is here that our Schools of Nursing have their part to play, for it must be obvious that the preparation of women for the practice of nursing requires not only a training in the technique and (Continued on next page) TI ae

THE CAREER OF NURSING (Continued from previous page) skills, but also a fundamental knowledge of the sciences on which it is based. Schools for Nurses have been established in hospitals all over the world. Here the student nurse is given basic training in the art and practice of nursing. In New Zealand this course re. quires three years and three months to complete, and is a sound foundation on which the student may build her future career. The student is received into the Preliminary School, which is in charge of specially qualified women, and is given a gradual introduction to the principles. and practice of nursing, receiving theoretical instruction accompanied by practice of elementary nursing procedures in the demonstration room. After a varying period (from four to twelve weeks) she is brought into contact with nursing in the wards. Thereafter she receives instruction in the basic sciences, correlating this with practice in the wards. The new methods of her education aim at providing a special "block " period each year during which period she takes the theoretical side only. This means she is fresh for her study instead of doing it after, perhaps, several hours on duty. During her period of training the student is comfortably housed and has ample leisure for recreation and the pursuit of her own interests, and, of course, has annual leave. Her health is carefully watched, and she is taught how to protect herself from infection. She has annual examinations and finally a State examination, success in this automatically giving her State registration, and she will now be in a position to view some of the possibilities which lie before her in the field of nursing either in the hospital or the community. . Special Courses There are several additional courses which she may take to fit her for the particular work she desires to do. These are: Maternity nursing, six months’ course. Midwifery, twelve months’ course. Infant welfare, four months’ course. Post-graduate course, in conjunction with Victoria University, Wellington, in public health and administration, six months. Within the hospital she are a wide field to enter: Staff or Charge Nursing to ore her in ward administration first of all, a fascinating duty where the keen nurse can prove her worth, for now she has added responsibilities and can be of great assistance to her Ward Sister, Ward Sister: The Ward Sister holds a very important post and should be chosen for her personality, capability, and adaptability. She is the teacher of the practical side, and has a wonderful opportunity, for here she has the living patient to nurse and her students to teach. She must be able to create the right environment for her patients, be able to work harmoniously with the medical staff, her nursing _- and her own staff. Surely a position td strive for? As an administrator also she has unlimited opportunities, and such is her

influence that she is the person who creates, to a large extent, the character of the hospital itself. Home Sister, Theatre Sister, Night Sister: All these positions bring with them their own special responsibilities and require those who are specially suited for such work to carry it out successfully. Tutor Sister: Here is a position for one, a professional expert with an aptitude for teaching. She is the instructor of the theoretical side of the students’ training and assists the students in their comprehension of the lectures given by the medical staff.

Another important position for a specially qualified person is that of Dietitian. This position carries with it responsibilities in the preparation and serving of food to the sick and teaching the students the fundamentals of nutrition. Other Opportunities There are other opportunities. X-ray work, dispensing, massage, exchange with other countries, post-graduate courses in England, Canada and America. Matron or Superintendent of Nurses is the highest position one can attain in hospital, and is the climax of an interesting and varied career,