INFECTION RISK

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23256, 18 July 1945, Page 4

INFECTION RISK

Youth Of Nurse Aids Criticised Problem Of Tubercular Patients “That the attention of the Hospital Board be directed to the extreme youth of nursing aids nursing tuberculosis patients and the great risk of infection.” This recommendation by (lie Waimale Hospital Committee was commented on by Major G. T. Hennessy who told a meeting of the South Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday that two of the nurses from the Waimate Hospital iiad entered Waipiata Sanatorium. Before the war, 21 years was the minimum age for trainees, but owing to tire demands of the war on personnel the age limit had been lowered to 18. At Waimate they accepted them at 17 years as nursing aids, a year's preparatory work being done before the trainio was allowed to nurse a tuberculosis patient. That was a very susceptible age. It appeared that country girls were more susceptible than town girls. Mr C. E. Kerr: How long had they been at the hospital? Major Hennessy: One had been there for a year or so and the other had contracted the disease in the first

year. There was a suggestion that the patients should be moved elsewhere, but there would be opposition to taking them away from their relatives. I do not know the remedy. Tire Medical Superintendent (Dr. J. C. McKenzie) said he agreed that it was not a suitable age limit. At 18 years a girl was not fully developed and was susceptible. The secretary (Mr 11. G. Naylor): Tire Waimate nurses who had been admitted to Waipiata were 19 and 22 years respectively. Dr. McKenzie said that most people agreed that the minimum age was too young, but the Health Department was well aware of the position. In answer to a question Dr. McKenzie said that at the Timaru Hospital they accepted a trainee on her merits and her physique, but usually about 19 years. Serious Position Mr Kerr: It is a serious position to have two nurses from Timaru being admitted to Waipiata and two from Waimate. In future they should be particular about the selection of girls as trainees. The chairman (Mr E. Macdonald): If representations are made to the Department new regulations may be made that will make it even more difficult to get nurse aids. It would be wrong to allow the impression to get abroad that nursing was a dangerous occupation, said Dr. McKenzie. From their experience the staff had been free from tuberculosis for long periods and then one or two cases would be detected. Every six months the nurses were skin tested. In ordinary life people built up immunisation by contracting the disease slightly and getting' well again. As a rule country girls from isolated areas were not reactive to the skin test, but after six months or a year they did react. Contact was not the big factor; it was susceptibility. In nursing a girl had to be trained in all branches of the profession. There were rules for their own protection, but these were not always carried cut. It could not always be told if a nurse washed her hands before a meal after duty. Others did not look after their health as they should. When they became run down they became more susceptible. In the Waimate Hospital, said Major Hennessy, the nurses were X-rayed periodically. Dr. Kidd usually examined the plates. Dr McKenzie said that the Department had to be notified of every case of tuberculosis among nurses. The Department was very much alive to the position. There had been so much talk about the disease that in his opinion a tuberculosis phobia had been generated. The incidence of tuberculosis among nurses was > not unduly high.