SWEATING OF. NURSES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1496, 19 July 1912, Page 6

SWEATING OF. NURSES.

' Sir,—Under the above heading I notice a letter in a recent copy of Tiik Dominion signed "Veritas,'.'. in which .the , writer urges the Government to look into certain matters in connection with the administration of St. Helens' Maternity Hospital, more particularly the absence of any provision regulating the hours of ntteiuiance of nurses, the lack of suitable assistance for ordinary domestic service, and the use of india-rubber gloves as n preventive against contagion. I have enrelully considered the communication, but I fail to find sufficient to enable the degree of the subject.unntter of complaint ; to be identified. -Jn- a maternity home such as, say, the St.-. Helens institutions, there can be no. hard-and-fast regulations as to the exact hours nurses could be called on for duty. The very, nature of their employment at once .shows that they may (occasionally) be called on at times of great exigency. But this should po-looked upon as an emergent factor in a nurse's occupation, and not as a daily and recurring exigency. - Proper' hours should be. at the nurses' disposal, : apart : from-. fixed-hours for • study,' of ■which they could avail themselves for -P-TTO^mflntli . ,mny,jJ,,sa,v,, takcrecreation; ,or they .s,hpiijdi b? : , permitted to read, or what not, in their sitting or commonroom—tor I suppo.se they have one. It might, of course, be made clear, by regulation that the service- of any mired ir.av j>o requisitioned for any case demanding immediate attention, so long as sho is within tho hospital compound. "With regard to assistance for ordinary house drudgery, such as cleaning floors, that seems to mo a detail that the matron of any well-conducted hospital ■ would always see that her subordinate nurses were to a great extent relieved of.- Ihavo heard, from time to time, but quite outside the" proonicts of St. Helen's Maternity Hospital, that the practice of cleaning windows ■ from outside is expected from probationers—and perhaps otlicrs-who certainly navo not paid the very, heavy fees to earn that useful adjunct to cleanliness tor which hospitals have -become proverbial under good management, "With, rcleronco to the use of indiarubber floors, l can luiTdly think they are dispensed with. If such- a thing were done; it would, I am .sure, receive the greatest condemnation from. the faculty of medicine. It is really tob absurd, and "Veritas. was wrong in not making it quito clear what he meant to convey; Probably, on inquiry, it will be fquiid that the mirses think, and perhaps justly, that this most essential part of the hospital oquipnftiyt. should bo provided by tho authorities free, and that nurse's should not bo called upon to provide, or otherAvbe renew, these important articles. Tho hospitals of the character indicated are. in my humble opinion, ndinirably, conducted by the Department officials. If there.is.any room for—well, I will not say improvement, but. in maniiosting (he existence of the milk of huinnn kindlier, it might l,n in (ho direction of cultivating a little moro csririltie corps iimoiig the ladies of tho stuff—l mean of the maternity hospitals-generally. A want of tact may-disorganise an otherwise model institution, • and consequent dissatisfaction supervene, ■ which is not in the interest of the patients. The conventional term "ladies" is applicable to all the women, from the matron to the most subordinate. I remember heiulnfj, not very long aso, of a lady clothed m authority. habitually cultivating a sneer when indicating to an assistant how ought to have done a certain minor detail. -However, my letter is getting too: Ipng, &, J w jn conclude with a little incident that somehow presents itself to my mind. When Sir A. Gordon was Governor of this colony, ho sought to impress on the ladies attending Government House that on his entrance they should rise and bow to the representative of hor Majesty. This was rebelled against. Now, I can understand, if his Excellency visited our hospitals, he might be receiver! w'ith some such mark of respeot, bub I ciiu imagine no other individual, male or female, exacting similar homage from an hospital staff, without subsequent ridicules— I ain. etc.. . SODA SAL.