CERTIFICATES FOR NURSES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 184, 3 August 1908, Page 2

CERTIFICATES FOR NURSES.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—The report of a case headed "Duties of a Nurse," which appeared iv . your issue of Saturday, and which was heard in the Police Court on Friday, elicited a very weighty remark from a' local doctor, which must, through the very force of ciißissstames, bear fruit in the extension «g the midwifery lectures at present so r.bly conducted by Dr. Eoberton. '.these lectuites, while being both interesting and instructive, will outwardly leave no imprint of proficiency This is not just, either to the women who intend to make this highest branch of nursing—midwifery—their profession, or to the public, Trio have a ri<*ht to expect the highest amount of proficiency in a nurse. The Government has certainly made a 'beginning, but it becomes a. very hstiess beginning, that has no ultimate goal in view. Th e word trained carries with it a certain charm to the possessor and to the learner and for Nature's nurses it is .the consummation of all .her hopes and desires. Th e tone must come when the Government must compel every woman who acts as nurse to produce her certificate— not that the certificate produces the most efficient nurae, but that it shows efficient knowledge. The trained midwife or monthly nurse holds the highest position next to the doctor m the medical profession She is responsible to the world practical'lr for its prolongation, for the mother, as Veil as the child, are utterly helpless in her hands; therefore, this responsibility being supreme, she should bear the hallmark of proficiency. Have the many doctors in Auckland nothing to say in extending to the nurse that -which gives to - them professional ra,nk—a diploma ? I would plead that they make it their business to meet the authorities in solemn conclave, to gain for this neglected band of women the same right to professional rank that the St. Helens nurse holds today.—l am, etc., . E. NTCOL.