The Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, June 17, 1933 MATRICULATED NURSES.

Grey River Argus, 17 June 1933, Page 4

The Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, June 17, 1933 MATRICULATED NURSES.

The suggestion made by the Nurses’ and Midwives’ Registration Board that applicants for nursing posts on hospital staffs should be possessed of some evidence of scholastic attainments up to matriculation standard, which is contained in a circular letter to Hospital Boards, is generally receiving the reception such a preposterous recommendation amply merits. It may be taken as axiomatic that academic achievements are no criterion at. all on which to guage talent anil abilities in a person to carry out the work of nursing, and the fact that an applicant for a trial at nursing, who has had a brilliant career through the leading universities of the world and won the highest possible academic honours, may not possess one of the thousand and one requisites in such a profession and an attempt to make good would probably be to put a round peg into a square hole and expect. i,t to fit. Nurses like poets, are born, not made, and the first and indispensible condition in those who adopt nursing as a profession is that they are temperamentally suited for such a work, which calls for patience, endurance, quick common sense, and above all a heart full of love for the suffering, and the desire to assist in its alleviation. Unless thcreis the right mental attitude towards the noble work of nursing. not only does a nurse find her duties uninteresting but unless her sympathies and the finest qualities in her make-up are

compatible with her work, she cannot succeed nor can those entrusted to her supervision receive more than a mere mechanical attention. In nursing', as in no other profession, does an admirable disposition and radiant nature count for so much. The effect of personality in the sick room is of paramount importance as its influence on patients suffering from serious illnesses has often an important bearing on their progress to recovery or otherwise. It is not difficult to realise that the traits required in a nurse cannot be measured up by what she has achieved scholastically. she may have been a perfect “dunderhead” at learning. she may never have passed into a secondary school, but her aptitude for the nursing of the sick" and suffering may make her a compeer with Florence Nightingale. It is of course admitted that education is a necessary ingredient in the equipment of anyone, man or woman, but the point is that it should be only a secondary consideration and Ihe proof that there is a standard of education sufficient to render a nurse capable of passing her qualifying examinations within the prescuib. ed period, of being able to comprehend the technical part of her training ami to be able to express herself concisely and in good English should be all that is required. The tendency nowadays is to require that applicants for positions do possess evidence of their scholastic ability. The same requirment appears to be creeping into most of the ■walks of life. When it is borne in mind that the training is hard and the financial reward not nearly sufficient to attract those who have not in the first place enthusiasm for the work it will be seen that in the circumstances limitations which have nothing to do with the fitness of a young woman to be a nurse should not bo imposed.