NURSING AIDS

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24415, 15 November 1944, Page 8

NURSING AIDS

WORK QF SCHOOL AT BURWOOD

Since its establishment in May, 1941, the Nursing Aid School conducted by the North Canterbury Hospital Board at BUrwood Hospital has given young women valuable training as preliminary to., thenL entering the nursing profession. The scheme for the training and State registration of nursing aids has successfully filled the hiatus, for many girls, between the time of leaving school and them becoming old enough to enter a framing school for nurses. It has assisted materially, too, in meeting th«j call for young women to train as nurses ■ ana nursing aids, a demand that has increased in urgency during the war. The aim of the training course is to give the girls first a sound and practical knowledge of the domestic arts, including housewifery, laundry, cooking, and nutrition. The first year of the two years* course is concerned largely with these practical duties, together with some elementary instruction in anatomy and physiology, the history of nursing, and elementary bacteriology. General ward work m the hospital, including experience in the personal care of patients, takes up the second year, with instruction in elementary nursing, first aid, the nursing of surgical conditions and medical diseases, and the care of infants and toddlers. After completion of the two years training, the trainee may sit for the State examination for nursing aids, and provided she passes the examination she is entitled to be admitted to the Register of Nursing Aids. She then has the option of continuing to train to be a registered nurse or of practising her profession as a nursing aid. Many girls, from 17 to 30 years of age, who lack the educational qualifications necessary for entry to a nursing training school, have been enabled by this scheme to find a useful place in the nursing profession. They have a wide field open to them for subsequent employment and in their training they acquire knowledge and experience that must be of the greatest value to them both in their vocation and in their home life. An important aspect of the scheme Is that during the period of training the girls are independent of financial assistance from other sources. The salary in the first year is £62, and in the second year £72 per annum. Trainees, of course, ‘‘live in” and uniforms are provided. More important, the girls have a good home in pleasant and healthy surroundings. Trainees work in eight-hour shifts, and meal-times are included in the working hours. They receive three weeks’ leave with pay and boarding allowance each year, and one day off each week. Each trainee has her own room, the nurses’ home is comfortably and restfully furnished, and special provision is made for recreation. Careful attention is given to the diet of trainees, one of the most interesting developments at the school being the provision of a three-course hot dinner between 12.30 and 1.30 a.m. for nurses on night duty.