CARE OF THE SICK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21633, 9 February 1945, Page 4

CARE OF THE SICK

HOSPITAL DEMANDS domicilialry nursing STANDARD~OF TRAINING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 9. Expressing alarm at the continued and rapid increase in hospitalisation, and the belief that a very important contributing factor was poor and inadequate housing, the Hospital Boards Association of New Zealand, at it's conference in Wellington, instructed its executive to wait on the Minister of Health, the Minister of Housing, and such other Ministers as were deemed advisable, and stress the extreme urgency of providing immediately all facilities for the erection of sufficient houses to meet the needs of both Europeans and Maoris. A recommendation that members of hospital boards be paid a stated sum for attendance at board monthly meetings, in addition to actual travelling expenses, is to be made to the Government by the association, in the terms of a remit adopted yesterday. It was also decided to urge that members' travelling allowances be increased from lflcl to is 8d per hour.

Expressing the opinion that the standard required in the theoretical examination for nurses in training was too high, and recommending that the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board be asked to consider the matter with a view to amending the standard, an Auckland remit provoked considerable opposition at the conference and was rejected. Training Syllabus Under Review

The Director of the Division of Nursing, Miss Lambie, said that modifications of the training syllabus were already under consideration by the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board. Mr. A. J. Moody, Auckland, said the board felt that the standard of theoretical training was too high. An ounce of practice was worth a ton of theory. A medical practitioner on the board who was also an examiner agreed that the standard was too high. Mr. H. F. Toogood: Accumulation of practical knowledge. "It would be a retrograde step to reduce the standard of perhaps the greatest service we have in the Dominion,” said Mr. J. Thompson. Wairarapa. Mr. V. M. Simpson, Wellington, said the nurses at Wellington Hospital were unanimously opposed to any reduction of the present standard. Of 60 who sat the last examination, only one failed.

Several delegates said they had had no failures among their nurses: others that failures had been few. Others said that in view of Miss Lambie’s statement the matter eoulct well be left to the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board.

School-To-Hospitai Bridge

The following remits were adopted: “That preliminary training-school courses be established for nurses, either as separate schools or in connection with secondary schools, the course to bridge the gap between tne school-leaving age and the age entry to hospital training, 16 to 18 venrs. and to include instruction under the following headings: Anatomy and physiology, nutrition and dietetics, including practical work, elementary science, elementary chemistry, and bacteriology, including principles ot asepsis and sterilisation.’’

"That in view of the ever-increas-ing demand on hospital accommodation, the consequent increase in capital expenditure involved in the erection of buildings, and the difficulties being experienced in securing the requisite number of nursing trainees and domestic staff, consideration be given to the appointment of a greater number of district nurses with a view to treatment of suitable cases in the home of the patient.’ Such appointments, it was stated, would assist in the rehabilitation of nursing sisters returning from overseas service.

The chairman, Mr. M. T. Trafford, the medical superintendent, Dr. R. J. B. Hall, and the managing-secretary. Mr. C. A. Harries, are representing the Cook Hospital Board at the annual conference of the Hospital Boards’ Association in Wellington.