CAREERS FOR GIRLS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 107, 29 January 1908, Page 3

CAREERS FOR GIRLS.

NURSING. '. -Nursing is a career to which more honour, than remuneration is attached, but lit nevertheless is one that more than, any other fascinates womeu. ' It would be hard to find a' girl who lias liot at some time wiintetl Jco be a nurse, aiid this not only because of-the pieturesqueness and romanco surrounding the work; fehe'niay have 'vague; riwilyHlini ideas about tho duties of the profession,'and about tho patience, obedience, and'energy.that go towards-mik'nig a''successful nurse. ■ She prti- ' bably' thinks a good deal about the becoming uniform, ; the. gratitude of the patients,-and the ■■ romance of tho: . fight 'agiiinst ,dis- •' ease- and death, but:-she .also,, .realises that, -it '. is '' essentially; ''and • /intensely, woman's - work, that .in it ,she,.would';find full opportunity for developing,. all that'. is b6st and teudorcst.'. in her, nature, an opportunity for'wholesale self-sacrifice.' The ayerage girl who, goes in , for , nursing, .takes; her., i work -.seriously, - and '•intßnlls'"'t9 t -' ; riake3l;:hj!.r prol'cs3ibii,- x but-probably few of thcni realise how verj'-hard will - haitelt6'Lwork;;;,or how strict the discipline, will bo./ rioiiK;; of them ooriio. through their course.. erhbitfere'd by.tho*expericnce, but most of them, are,tho better for-it.,''. Listening to a, hbspital descriptionof. her day's .work, .it ;is '.very difficult for' an outsider to understaiul how, slio manages to'do all that is'required'-of'her in tho varied ;iind incessant aro.'her duties,; so stern' the demand that -they.^shall

bb performed ' hi •.'emergency• cases' a! nurSe iriay'have to lib: on duty for twelve hours,. but, as, a 'rule, s'lio his; aii ,bight' hours', shift, and in.-.thbse eight hours .«hfr.h'as', to do about t-en...h'burs'',work. ' The 1 cbristflrit cry of a- nursb'-is, •!' It ; can|t-.b'6 dbrio in the time," but'in : the end somehow, : it is ' done. It is not only the physical work' that is .'-.a .strain;' oir lifir,* or. the stridy .for examinations, but in the e'very-day routine there'is""much mental work, -chie'tly conriccted -w ; ith tho rbporte'' on; tho individual patients •that;, .haw to be'prepared each day.' Tlreso ire taken at length and; with great care, arid the. pra'ct'ico \ tends to . make tho nui'scs very careful in ' observation, but.the-making up ; 'o( seems often as the last, straiv to the already /o'ver-burdened, nutse. 'Nurses'have the.nicest thirigs ,to say. about, their patients,' /their gratitudb r'for; ; tho. attention -shbfrn'. to .th'erii, their little 1 Ijerbism m faco eF-p'Sni. 'i-'Somo-of-thb- very finest Btbri.es in tho world are told by hospital nurses, and maiiy of tho funniest. Indeed, nothing is nibro. interesting than the cbriver-sation-bf nurses off duty -when thoy allow themselves to- talk shop.' You get- there-the wholo drama of human life, all tho tragedy and comedy, the humour and pathos, tender littlo love tales, arid sordid coritrivirigs, foolish fears, arid- pitiful hopes. Now; this is the method of becpiriirig .a; probationer: If a Wellington girl has a desire to be'coriio a nurse at this .hospital, the first , thing she has; to do. is to pass a medical test,;, after .which she riiby put her name down, and then prepare to wait for an in- - definite time before she knows, -s.he... : will be appointed. . Meantime inqiiiries are made as,to her character, arid qualifications for the work...'"Here,, as, indebd, -everywhere olsb, personality counts for"a:great 'deal. ''The nurse must have had a fair education: There is no educational .test,- but it is understood that in. the'course of her.probation she will have, to pass various arid plio must not be handicapped at the outset by the want of general oducatiori.. ■ She must be., deft; only a patient cain tell what a difference the skilfulness of the nurse's fingers make to his coriifort, ■ w'hat. misery: there 'is when a bandage is put on clumsily. She must have common sense, and a practical mind, and if she is clever at housework, if she can sew and cook, arid make beds beautifully, she will find that knowledge of priceless value. It is tho domesticated girl who makes the best nurse. She must also bo twenty-three years of-age; in-some hospitals probationers are admitted under that age, but not in Wellington. Having been taken on at the hospital, which iriay .bo weeks or may be years .after she first applied, she wears a grey uniform, arid begins to help, in the wards. At first she will probably be disheartened by tho amount of sweeping and dusting that she will have to do, so different from her thought of a nurse's work. At the end of-three months sho has to pass a small examination, and if she succeeds in satisfying the doctor and. matron in this, and with her general work, sho is taken on as a probationer. For the year's work she receives a salary of £12. At tho end of tho twelve months there is a hospital examination in' medical and surgical work, anatomy, *and physiology, and thoso who pass get their pink uniforms, and £20 a year. In addition, they have board arid lodging at tho Nurses' Home, where they are .'well looked after, their uniforms aro supplied, and their washing is done. At tho end of tho second year there is another hospital examination in anatomy, physiology, medical and surgical work, and hospital progress. There is also a State examination in anatomy and physiology. . In the third -year tho salary is £30. At tho end of the third year thore is a hospital examination, practical and theoretical, in medical , and surgical work, and the ' State examination .in , the same subjects. Certificates are, then f ranted by tho State, and the nurse,fully edged and registered, is entitled, to nurse th'o general"pul)lic, and' ask £3 '3s. a'week foriior private services. As a hospital .nui'so she gets £20 the first six mouths, £25 the seoond half-year, and if she becomes a Sister sho;earns 1 £00 the first year.' and -£70 a year afterwards. /. •. ■ Thcrb is ' always plenty of work -in Wellington for private nurses, often moro- than eiiough, so. that , it- is sometimes .difficult to find ' a ..niir.se in case of emergency. : Tho private nurse 'lias an exciting time',.without one dull, niinntb. She is rushed from pillar to post,, she'lives ;iri her basket; sho may be to-day ;in -a, beautiful home, with people, who surround her .with every comfort, and next day "she,, may have, a patient, on the verge of . poverty;. sho may he earning her throo guineas, a week or fccliiig that she mu'st let the patient's ; pooplo down gently, and all tho time she win be, Having experiences.. But, take it all; together, with all its ups arid downs ,there is, say nurses who-know, no fincr'lifo fqr a woman than that of nursing the sick. It is, of all occupations, tho most womanly. It is a labour that is to bo loved for itself, and they would not givo it up for any other carcor. It may. also be added that the training a nurse receives fits her for married life as docs', no other training. In dealing..-with careers for women, one has always to, remember that a girl may leave her chosen career .and become a home-maker any day, and not always will she find it easy to. take up tho now duties. But tho nurse has been trained, in the most home-making of arts, arid as a mother she will find horself helped, not hindered, by those years of independent work.