TRAINING OF NURSES

Evening Star, Issue 20510, 14 June 1930, Page 15

TRAINING OF NURSES

AH OFFICIAL STATEMENT A deputation of the New Zealand Thui.eu nurses Association wuiteu oa the Minister of Health on Juno 4 and asked him if he would withdraw the proposed amendment to the Nurses and Midwives’ Act in its present lorm. The Minister assured the deputation that “ho undertook' to countenance no amendment-that will affect the reciprocity or the status of the pursing professioil in any way.” Moreover, ho promised that, when the amending Bill is redrafted ho would submit it to the Nurses’ Association before it is introduced to the House; • ' The attention of the Trained Nurses’ Association has. been directed to interviews given to the Press and to opinions expressed by various bodies on this subject. As there seems to be misunderstanding concerning the point of view of the association, tue-following explanation has been drawn up. As long ago as 1901 an Act was passed to.' provide for the registration of nurses in New Zealand, the first such Act in the world. The Act 'provided that only certain hospitals which were of a standard to meet the necessary requirements could become training schools for nurses, and these must be all public hospitals—i.e., those governed by a hospital board. A definite curriculum was laid down, and it was, required that a State examination must 1 bo passed. It was only in 1919 that the Government of Great Britain passed a Registration Act for trained nurses. Similarly to New Zealand, only certain hospitals are by this Act permitted to become trainiing schools, these being the groat voluntary hospitals and the hospitals maintained bj rates. In the past the latter were known as the poorlaw hospitals, but are now governed by the various local authorities. A statutory body the General Nursing Council of England and Wales—was set up by this Act to govern the licensing of, training schools, to conduct the State examination for nurses, and to maintain the general State register. It had also disciplinary poVrers. RECIPROCITY. Soon after. taking office the General Nursing Council through the Colonial Office approached the New Zealand Government on the subject of reciprocity for' State registered nurses. It, was pointed out to the council that New Zealand had several small hospitals which were training schools, this being necessary to meet the needs of a young country with a scattered population, but that all these schools were in public Hospitals. Because of this uniformity of status a reciprocal arrangement was entered into, . . New Zealand is in the proud position of, being the youngest. dominion and the only one to which full reciprocity has been granted because of the conditions already mentioned. This is a most important matter for nurses; inauy travel to England to obtain further professional experience, and to do this they must be eligible to_ be at one© placed on the British register. It has been argued that our present agreement, would not be altered by the proposed amendment to allow private hospitals to become training school.. This.the Trained Nurses’ Association have definite proof to be incorrect. Information received as recently as last February stated that “if hospitals run for gain .?erc to become training schools, the proposed change would affect reciprocal agreement.”

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE NURSING SERVICE.

■ Many opinions have been expressed concerning the competency Ox the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board to protect the standard of nursing service. This is quite correct to a point. The board must administer by law the. Act under which it functions. Therefore if this Act is changed the policy of the board must necessarily alt«Again, it is claimed by some doctors that private patients can be adequately nursed by student nurses. Surely the opinion of the matrons and, teachers oi nursing is of value in this is they who teach the nursing practices, and they are of a unanimous opinion throughout New Zealand that this is not possible, quite apart trom the question that patients paying large fees demand skilled nursing attention The general hospital is recognised as the teaching centre for both tho medical student and the nurse student all over the world. THE ECONOMIC ASPECT. The opinion that in the future private hospitals will grow and servo to relievo the burden of the general hospital is probably true. In _ Australia such hospitals are large and influential. But those that are recognised as training schools for reciprocal agreement, both in Great Britain and New Zealand, ate public hospitals as well. That is, the greater part of the hospital consists of public wards. If the private hospitals in New Zealand extend in this manner and the requirements of the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board are met so that nurses trained in these institutions only do duty in the public ■ wards while _ students, tho Trained Nurses’ Association will be satisfied, as they feel that in this way their interests with regard to reciprocity and the efficiency of the nursing service to the public are guarded. Endorsement of the above has been received from all the branches of tho Trained Nurses’ Association of New ■Zealand, which include Auckland, Waikato, Rotorua, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Greymouth, North Canterbury, South Canterbury. Otago, and Southland. In addition the same endorsement has been received from the whole of the trained nursing staff of the general hospitals throughout the dominion, with the exception of one nurse.