Attacked, and Defended

NZ Truth, Issue 983, 27 September 1924, Page 5

Attacked, and Defended

■m--': ' ■'■-■ _____ „ ;.■-. ■,■ NURSES' DUTIES |N THE HOME. .A large , amount of alleged indignation has been .aroused by some re--1 marks, made by "Warrior"; Wallace, chairman of the- Auckland Hospital I Board, concerning- maternity nurses. As Mr. '■■ Wallace . is a man of vast ex- ■ perience, .and. a cautious Scot, his re- ■ marks .'carry some weight. ', • .The "Warrior" commented upon the : alleged reluctance of, the average ma- '■ ternity nurse to • assist m household i duties, and said .that some nurses were i charging .'fees.aX high as six guineas a ' week, while between thirty and forty I nurses were awaiting engagement at. i the Nurses' Hostel: In fact, said Mr. s Wallace, mariy^ .women would not be confined m their own homes (whi'ih i ,was the proper. arid natural place for i a .mother-to have her child)- because of the fact that .not only would the • nurse. not do any of the household work I but they expected to be waited on, ' and h,elp had to' be employed additional l to the nurse. ; • — • i ':'. The 'cudgels for, the : defence were wielded by Miss Hquchen, matron of the Auckland Nurses' Club,, 'who said . t£at tbere were not 30 nurses out of 1 emplojwnent, and that there never had « -been^3ft inthe home at onetime. There I -^ere only 15 nurses, at the home, and ' of these, only two were .maternity nurses! She added that she did .ipt - know of any .nurses charging six > guineas a week, arid that such, a prac- • ti'ce would ; be contrary to the associa - tion's regulations, regarding maternity • nursing;:; the'; usual': fee was ,£ 4 4s a s. week, but a' nurse might charge i £ 6 6s i when ?a.r doctor was,; not m attendance. ; "It isVhardly - correct .to make .the . sweeping f statement ' that maternity nurses do not. undertake reasonable household :<duties," ; said : the matron. "Nurses are always expected to attend to (.he :patient!s -room, and are ■ usually ready to- giye .other assistaricd. A "great , deal depends ... upon the spirit

m which the aid is accepted. Some people expect a nurse to do arduous tasks about the home, and yet be m constant attendance upon the patient at night.' It is a nurse's duty to conserve her energies if she is to be able to attend her patient efficiently." A correspondent writes m rebuttal of this final paragraph m the defence of Matron Houchen: "In an ordinary maternity case m .which there are no complications (about 05 per cent.) there is not sufficient to do to keep any active woman fully engaged, and the 'attending to the patient's room' is a detail which any domesticated woman would cover m under an hour. Ordinary maternity patients do not N require 'constant attendance' at night, excepting that the nurse should be handy if required. As to the nurse's duty m 'conserving her energies,' the writer can vouch for it that this' is a duty which is never neglected. Judging by the conservation, some of them should ha} c enough energy stored to run a powci house. "There is altogether too much pre-v tence about the average nurse. Few of them can attend (or would attend) a maternity case without a doctor, and, after the birth, their duties are comparatively simple and light; but the 'airs' assumed by some of them are enough to make an intelligent patient ill; and it is a fact that the patient is very glad to see the last' of her attendant and have an opportunity of putting 'her house m order.' ' Poor people simply cannot afford to employ these women who make so much of (and charge so dearly for) their training and who will render no assistance m the house apart from attending to the patient. Unless there are grown children to welcome the new arrival (which is not at all , likely m these days of small families) help has to be employed to do the ordinary household work— and wait upon her ladyship, the nurse. "In the days of the good old, cleanly, industrious mid -wife, the bringing into the world of a baby was a much less expensive matter, attended with far less' worry, domestic and financial. It was the fashion then for mothers to have their babies m their own homes