THEATRE STAFF SHORTAGE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28866, 10 April 1959, Page 16

THEATRE STAFF SHORTAGE

Miss Cameron Blames Surgeons (New Zealana Press Association) NAPIER, April 9. The attitude of present-day surgeons compared with that of surgeons of the past was primarily responsible for the current shortage of trained theatre staff, said the Director of the Nursing Division of the Department of Health (Miss F. J. Cameron) at the conference of the Hospital Board’s Association in Napier. Miss Cameron was speaking to a remit from the Palmerston North Hospital Board, asking that steps be taken to encourage registered nursing staff to specialise to a greater degree in theatre work to eliminate recurring shortages in the supply of trained theatre staff. Mr A. M. Colquhoun (Palmerston North), moving the remit, said that there were long lists of people waiting for operative treatment, not because there was a shortage of surgeons, not because the theatres were not equipped, but because there was not sufficient trained theatre staff. Miss Cameron: I think the surgeons themselves are to blame, and they will not assist the training of junior theatre nurses. In the old days they used to assist them, help them, and even let them have a table.

Miss Cameron said that when she was nursing, theatre work was the most popular among nurses, but today it was the most unpopular. “The surgeons could also do something about theatre hours,” said Miss Cameron. “You start at 4.30 p.m. and go on to 9.30 or 10 o’clock at night—nobody wants to work like that unnecessarily.” The remit was carried.