MISS PAYNE'S TOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 78, 26 December 1907, Page 3

MISS PAYNE'S TOUR.

■ y/NTJRSING IN 'OTHER; Sk'NDS. ~'...:■' : Miss Payne, Lady .Superintendent of the Wellington Hospital, who , returned dn.Mon-day-frbm an oight months' tripytp England arid the Continent,. was; interviewed - by. a, I)OMiNioN,. reporter '■■ on the ■ subject r of her experiences'. T It was purely ;;a * holiday '. trip,' bnt' it does not:appoar that the . average New- Zealantler- knows 'how to; niake''hpjiday. Certainly, wheii -,a man. or,'woman'..with. any special "interest. goes . Home , for'.a restiWie. .or she; : invariably comes; back, with: a-mass, pf-'-riew- information 'pertaining'■ t0 , " , , that. special interest. And so'Mjss I'aync "visited many of.the hospitals'infEnglahd" Scotland, and Ireland...', SHe.does not draw comparisons between, , - them and those lwre, ■; because ?hp.say,s they, are'iiot; comparable;- conditions. jjoing perfectly, different. ;,,For - most' , of.: the hospitals' she has■ seon.'. she; expresses great admiration;- and she is disposed to believe that they were representative of.' county' hospitals generally:; Jn ■. a ■ country,... with, .-so huge;-a. population: as' England there arp' : a very .great';, many hospitals ■ to ! . judge _• by,"'and jt'would 'bd'-easy a-- , niist'a'iio'. if' one visited- a very few and .drciv ' general ;'cpiif; clusipns.. -Those, she saw' werb well equipped . and 7 ,uj>tb.-date. The. Big Loridpn" hospitals arc, cities in themse|yes. Aliss Payne Visited thcmy::.andy was especially: interested. in the Ijondon•',Hospital, ; ; whero.-she saw.the■ Finsen .light-..euro, in operation*. . ~ .» . '.•.::.:;■■" ,V;Askojl, what was the position of; trained juirses in.Greatßritain, Miss Pay he, said ; that nurses. : ._as' a riilo' are' not; paid' nearly,.so ffcll- for';.p.riyato' nursing' as;they- aro -heje.' If-la' nurse, can establish a good .connection she 'receives. very ■ good,, fees, but" tlio';rank and filo have to-work for very 'little. •■ And iii '...the'.; hospitals,';;too, _ the pay is . p'doi-j trained'.nurses, even in' big hospitals,.- receiving, '.-many years what' New, Zealand .ilnrses "wpuld.'consider ; very inaVlecjuato pay'. 'Of;-'coursei' iniEngland' they' have, too, Hhe system,'of. probationers, 'who ; pay. for' their gaining;.' Miss Payne'found that* there.iva's a cpn?iderablp amount ,of agitation in fav.'our ■of -■ State' 'registration :of - 1 'nurses,' 'but jthere ;.was so 1 much; opposition in. ,niany':in-flupntial:quartprs;-that she,thought jt'v/puld pe .tu^vary',, long. tiinp ..befpro .such a', thing: came'about,: for it; is one , thing tb carry a Tiipasure'through iii-a , country with a small: population/ whero i only a few people are - ongaged;,iii any...one : occupation, but when "it is tried'in :a teeming; country, where . the interpsts of thousands of people are at: stake; coriditionsi can: only bo'.altered very slowly. .; State, registration, of 'nurses was -'also dis-. cussed 'at ■ the Nurses' Conference in Paris, which Miss .'Payne atrehdod as New Zealandrepresentative. This 'conference,is held once in, five, years; • .Last time it' "was 'heldin Buffalo, and the 'olio;held in-Paris this year;.was attended; by representatives frpni a greatf many cquritries. , : Thhrp do not seem to have been any Japanese delegates, though there wore some from-Russia. One-.iypuld have, .thought, that. a country wherp. the art. or.._ science .of. nursijig .'Had been "carried,-, to. such' a . pitch of perfection as' had ' been (lone in Japan would, have, been prominently represented in. a : ' council iof nurses.; It. was a business .Tho, members ; met hi .session,every morning aiur.afternopii, and "every. eyciiihg spnip; function' was .arranged.' The papers discussed covered ' a :r wide -area, dealing- 'especially .with'*. hospitals,- 'nibthod's pf .nursing, .and • tlio' training of . nurses.: Mucli .interest' was shown "in tho report of 1 Now ■ Zealand 'conditions,'*, aiid surprise "ft'as . bxpresse'd". at the progress of ; mattbro connursing; in.:this country.;- -For instance,, the Cqnfprerico was .surprised 'to lo'arn'of tho limited "hours that, nurses' work-hero,- and was ■.interested in tho three years', term of; training.' -.Even in England it. is customary for a.nurse to.nave a.twolyo hours', 'day, arid iV,is;..only recently 'that astated pbnod 'of training ' has' been 1 introduced' there*. ■ Tlio religious troubles in. France "have-affected tho" hospitals igreatly. Tho ••_ Sisters-, of,; .', ..who' : . staffed so-many hospitals, hayo Jiccii s sent'.- away, and_*haye been, replaced' by.-' other' nurse's.. It '.is 'probable that great /changes: will- be made in. tho administration of French hospitals.. France is at-present not;so advanced in /this respect, as- Engjand. or .America. , .'