TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20834, 28 September 1929, Page 19

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —Single-handed " Interested " is endeavouring to awaken public opinion to the conditions under which, nurses labour in our Public Hospital, and I for one honour him for his persistence, even while I do not entirely agree with all of his objections. I was trained in the Dunedin Hospital, and realise fully how impossible it is to frame hard and fast rules for work, which is. so closely associated.-with human life. Those " exigencies of duty " are. appearing every day. The average layman can have little conception how fully every hour is crammed with the ordinary work of the ward, and when an accident, an immediate operation, or an emergency of any kind occur*- it, of course, must receive full and caref-ul attention, and yet the ward work may not wait. We are constantly hearing of the shortage of nurses, but is it any wonder that girls coming from good positions in public offices and elsewhere find this exacting work frequently rendered almost unbearable by the petty fault-finding of embittered sisters and seniors (who, doubtless, themselves, poor things, had to bear it all in their own probation days, and would now pass it on) ? Surely the problem of the overworked nurse is not impossible of solution. Instead of having one wardsmaid (and sometimes not even one) to each big ward, could not our Hospital Board employ two capable working women? There is surely no shortage of such workers in these times of unemployment. We all recognise the importance of absolute cleanliness in every part of the wards, but how very often must this be achieved at the expense of the patient's comfort? For instance, the junior nurse cleans kitchen cupboards, etc., cleans and polishes the 'ends," and all that is in them every morning, besides sweeping and dusting, washing the walls, and polishing floors and lockers in. the ward. (These are only some of her duties.) To get all this done in the required time—and done thoroughly ior not a ledge must be missed—she must work at top speed with her eye on the clock all the time. If a patient merelv asks for a drmk of water it throws ail the carefully-balanced time table out, and" time and again I have known considerate patients refrain from troubling th" anxious-faced nurse, who is almost literally going for her life." Of course, it is plain to the general publ-.c that the nurse's first duty is to her patient, but often both patient and nurse must sacrifice together that the ward may be in apple-pie order when the matron makes her daily inspection; and this is one of the most painful lessons that the new nurse, when she is a compassionate woman, has to learn * the -i Uni il r is no > the ° ne who must sacrifice the comfort of her patients to tUe great cause of cleanliness Even the senior must at times race through a iong hst of painful dressings in order that L™Y £ aTe tim , e l .° i llst the pedals and polish the corridor! Xo nurse dreams of regarding these tasks as beneath her dignity, but it often seems to her that it in somehow all wrong that her work should be so frequently judged entirely on the m f ? nne l,. in wh]ch tasks arc Performed Too often the nurse who gets a poor report ;™T - a T? rd eiEt , er is tlle on e whose advent in the ward is greeted with "Oh 1 Aijrse. I am so glad to see you; please bring me a drink of water," or "2Please fill my hot-water bottle," trom several ! patients at once. For the "good " nurse hase been careful to avoid appearing in *Z l?« rd ' a? « fß f t 0B P° ssil "e. so busy has she been with the never-ending polishinz elsewhere. Surely this state oF affair? need not continue tuairs In closing I would like to comment vanced by "Interested." He refers to the food service in the home. I cannot speak from knowledge of the present-dav conditioiw but it is not so long since'l ?™] 1? i th^ l i rse , s ? omo - a "d I can testi'v that the food, though plain, was ahrays well cooked and sufficiently varied Th* home lister had the welfare of evtrv nurse at heart, and was to all. their fr end as well as mentor. Surely, this standard Then in reference to the. salarv. Each nurse receives £3O for her first year rling £lO per year throughout her training formW a " fl ' a } ,ndry - and "anal u„1: form allowance It is uot overmuch but when we consider the nnture of the training.both practical and theoretic*we ? P ! that the salary is but a minor considers eZrfetT + ?^ rt "»Hie S for a tfdo n«- P * n - e "I thls as are £ffi:LTtretc nstit,,ti - asDil etc " ■.'.■'■■■ v „ Dunedin. September 26.