"SAIREY REDIVIVUS."

Evening Post, Volume LXII, Issue 84, 5 October 1901, Page 7 (Supplement)

"SAIREY REDIVIVUS."

+ TO THE EDITOB. Sir — In the course of his remarks in the House recently on the subject of the Bill far the registration of nurses, Mr. T. Mackenzie expressed the opinion that "the Sairey Gamps have now disappeared from the colony." Alack ! No. As a victim more than once of nursing — socalled trained as well as untrained — I very much question that. What points constitute a Gamp? Are they ignorance, disobedience to the doctor, untruthfulness, neglect, vulgar gossip, a general lack of the most everyday intelligence, .fastidiousness, or even ordinary cleanli- ( ness ? If so, then all bail, Sairey ! Believe me, your reign is by no means over. You will yet continue to pursue , your self-satisfied career, and ■will still receive your fcwo guineas a week in return ,too often for muoh misery, anxiety, and suffering inflicted upon- your employers. Fox 1 , Sairey, par parenthese, alwayB remember .that it is the patient who employs'- and pays you. I yield to no one in my respect for women who earn their living in a competent way; I have several valued friends who do, and' I was taught to earn mine as a matter of course, and did so at one time by daily work quite as hard as nursing. "But for a woman, ignorant and senseless, whether she be trained or not, who presumes to follow such a business, no thoughtful person can feel anything but distrust and contempt. It is not "only very undesirable, but absolutely dangerous to life that it should be possible. (I speak feelingly, having nearly lost mine at the hands of "a so-called .trained nurse ; my second experience of her kind. The many peculiarities of the untrained, though very trying, were not quite so glaring, and there was much more natural refinement.) I used the term "business" advisedly ; some day one may hope to call it a "profession," but not in this present day of grace, Sairey. 'I^fear we need not look for it in the next halfdozen years, and I am very optimistic. Years of training in a hospital will never compensate for the want of ordinary education^ and the consequent develop-

ment of ordinary faculties. And so one is forced to think that nothing but a tolerably stiff examination in general knowledge before admittance is gained as a probationer m a'hoeprtal will prevent, at all events to a great extent, this apparently increasing evil. That, this will debar some naturally suited and inclined for nursing is undeniable, but that is of secondary importance compared to the claims of those willing to pay for efficient nursing and ordinary intelligence. One does not look for nor expect much sympathy or feeling from the average nurse, who seems so often to harden as she goes; that is a matter of temperament and perception on her part, but one certainly should be able 4 to obtain honest care and common-sense attention to orders and duty., these being the very least, that one should receive in return for money paid. That there are able, intelligent, conscientious women nursing in Wellington I am ready anl willing to believe. I myself know two such out of a considerable number of casual nursing acquaintances, whose conversation about their "cases," as they glibly term them (thus trying to preseat'in another guise mere impudent gossip), frequently ap- | pals one by its utter Gampishness. The [ So-called trained nurse is a. new product t during the last few years in the colony, I and the*little knowledge she has gained baa evidently, in the case of the illiterate, proved too much for her equanimity. With time, improved education, and possibly legislation, she will no doubt find her proper level and place. She will then meet most assuredly, if she be worthy of it, with the respect and consideration of all, both patients and. doctors, but never otherwise. Henley's lines descriptive of a lady nurse are striking :— " Quick, skilful, quiet, soft in speech and touch. . . .A well-bred silence always at command." There is much false sentiment in the world on the subject of nursing, and this is an un-* ] fortunate encouragement of' conceit and self-importance. The following little story is rather apropos and illustrates my meaning. A nurse, most capable, highly educated, and much in demand, had Her work in life referred to by a clergyman as "a labour of love," "No, sir," was the reply, "it is, my bread and butter." So, Sairey, try hard and remember always, that it is your own liv- • ing you are earning (nine times out of ten you could not possibly do it in any other way), and that you are most emphaticairy not a ministering angel. That position I have always understood has no salary, and nothing in the way of a starched cap attached to it. I conclude the expression of my sentiments with the hope that the addition of what Dr. MacGregor recently called "a new and very real terror to illness" — viz., an incompetent nurse* — may never be the fate of any of our estimable legislators now in Parliament here assembled. — I amj etc., FESTINA LENTE. ■ Wellington, 2nd October, 1901. i