Nursing study urged

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 5

Nursing study urged

Administration and the high drop-out rate of nursing students were matters needing investigation, it was stated at the graduation ceremony of nurses from the Christchurch School of Nursing, Burwood Hospital, yesterday. In addition, said the guest speaker, Dr T. E. Hall, medical superintendent at Sunnyside Hospital, there was a nurse shortage 20 per cent below the establishment figure.

The far-reaching changes recommended in Dr Helen Carpentier’s report on nursing in New Zealand were a subject of hot debate amongst the medical fraternity, said Dr Hall. “Ulis is understandable as we are anxious and anxious individuals become very

angry waiting.” Dr Hall said the nursing profession had come a long way since the turn of the century, when it was then one of the few fields open to women.

“Nurses worked in frightful conditions with extremely poor pay.” Although pay conditions had undoubtedly improved, there was still considerably more to be done, he said. OUTSIDE INTERESTS

“It is essential also for a nurse to maintain outside interests and not become institutionalised.” With improvements in conditions came advances in technology, bringing the nurse the need for much more technical knowledge than before, he said. In her address, the matron-in-chief of the North Canterbury Hospital Board (Miss D. R. Newman), said hospitals were institutions cradled in anxiety, not the least of which was the strain on: nursing staff. “Because of this you must give each other the parallel of care you give the patient. In view of the publicity given to nurses under strain, I ask you to be helpful and kind to each other,” Miss Newman said.

She emphasised that, although formal nursing training was at an end, the nurses’ education was just beginning. Guests at the ceremony included Dr L. McH. Berry, medical superintendent-in-chief of the North Canter-

bury Hospital Board, and Mr L. A. Bennett, deputy chairman of the board. PRIZES Prizes and medals were presented by Mrs T. E. Hall as follows: Certificate in plastic surgical nursing, Miss P. A. Bumhill (honours), Mrs R. D. Montgomery, Miss G. D. McIntosh, Miss G. L. Neal, Miss P. A. Wallace (honours): community nurse graduands, Misses C. F. Birch, D. Cornish, J. Fomison, N. M. Ford, M. A. Gourdie, M. C. Henderson, J. I. Hobbs, K. M. McFarlane, M. L. Mclntyre, J. S. McMillan, R. J. Munro, S. J. W. Munro, J. P. Neil, G. E. O’Donnell, A. M. Richards, K. Seddon, J. L. Sinclair, L. M. Stevens, H. J. Stewart, Mr K. W. Mauger, Mr R. C. Rowe; special prizes: community nurse, class 3, Miss I. G. Reid; community nurse, class 2, Miss L. M. Stevens; practical prize. Miss R J. Munro. ;