HOSPITAL NURSING,

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8449, 23 March 1889, Page 5

HOSPITAL NURSING,

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir,—Having read with much interest the various letters : which have appeared in your paper re nursing reform, &c. in the Dunedin Hospital, perhaps you will give space to the few remarks from one who has had some experience as to the routine of nursing in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In the .first place I an? utterly astonished that Dr Bachelor's wishes in the direction of reform should meet with any objections from the medical staff, apart from any pettednCES they may feel at his coming forward alone. They ought to give him all the support due to such an appeal. However, I trust the general public will not lack courage in this respect, hut give the doctor their support in all he is endeavouring to obtain, for an institution which ought to be the pride of their city. The first favour the doctor asks is a special ward for treating the diseases of women. No right-minded persons can raise their linger against such a demand; it is only surprising that such a city as Duuedin with its hospital staff and university should be void of such a necessity, and it is to be hoped that every woman in Otago will subscribe from the smallest mite to the largest sum they can afford, and assist Dr Batchelor in getting this special ward, and they will be conferring a great blessing ou their suffering sisters. Without entering into the whys and wherefores, no large hospital should be without such a ward. I now come to the nursing question, which seems a burning one in New Zealand when interfered with. Why the public are so blind on this point puzzles me. To agree that male nursing is preferable to female in the male ward is not only absurd, but being a relic of barbarism should be ignored. I am not denouncing the male nurses of Dunedin Hospital or any other hospital as a class, but simply state they are not in their proper place. In the lunatic asylum or the D. T. ward of an hospital their services would be invaluable, but to attend to the wants of the sick and the dying has always been woman's post, and there she should be installed. Truly there are nurses and nurses, and if it is to be the good fortune of the medical staff to secure female nurses for the male wards, see that the proper sort are got to start with. There is no doubt that the better educated and more refined a woman is the better nurse she will make. I do not deny that rough tempered women are to be found in all grades of society, but these must be guarded against. A properly trained matron must first be secured, and she will soon bring to perfection those placed under her. Many in the old country known personally to me have gone in as probationers purely for the love of the work and taking no salary. Perhaps a few of the same noble minded young women are to b& found in Duuedin. If so let them csme forward and join the sisterhood of the " Red Cross." The training of nurses is now a most important item in the management of hospitals all over the world, and no prettier sight is to be met with than these refined, gentle women tending to the wants of the sick. Permit me to ask why so many advocate male nurses for the men in the hospitals. It cannot be on the plea of prudery. Which of us, if. our husbands, fathers, brothers, or male friends were stricken down with illness, would thiuk of having a man fetched in to nurse ? Not one of us would dream of such a step unless it was a case of insanity. Ido not dispute but men can be as gentle as women, but I hold that nursing the sick is not their sphere. In conclusion, I again urge all true hearted women of Otago to assist Dr Batchelor in this little battle, and that they will come^outivictorious I have not the slightest doubt.—l am,'&c, March 16. A S