H— 31.

Training of Nurses. Various measures were adopted by the Board which it is considered will improve the standard of training ; among these were included the following : — (a) A strong recommendation was made to the Hospital Boards, which nearly all have agreed to, that in future probationers should not be " signed on " until they have completed a year's service so as to extend the probationary period. (b) The section of the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act is now enforced which states that all pupil nurses must have completed three years and three months training before they can sit for the State Examination, except when specially recommended, the Registrar can grant an exemption of two months. (c) The revision of the Nurses' Practical Work-sheet bringing the subject-matter more up to date. This is presented when making application to sit for the State Examination. (d) The decision that a third of the questions set for the State Examination should be set and examined by a nurse examiner. (e) The general standard of the State Examination has also been considerably raised. There were 412 candidates for the two examinations held, one in June, and the other in December, and as a result 328 qualified for State registration, while 84 failed to come up to the required standard. The Examiners in their comments all state that the papers as a whole are of a much better educational standard, weaknesses were apparent in the giving of general nursing principles, and omitting the detailed care for the particular case asked for, and the teaching of dietetics still needs to be improved. Gynaecology, infant-welfare, and infectious diseases, in the opinion of the majority of the oral Examiners, are subjects which are not as well answered as should be. All the training-schools were reported upon during the year either by Miss Moore, Nurse Instructor, or myself, with the result that, after careful consideration by the Board, Mangonui, Tauranga, Whakatane, Taihape, Opotiki, Wairoa, Reefton, Waihi, and King George Y Hospital, Rotorua, were cancelled as training-schools; Riverton and Patea were regraded as B grade trainingschools, and the pupil nurses of Balclutha are to be required to do a period of three years and six months training in conformity with other B grade training-schools. To assist in the overcoming of unemployment among nurses, the hospitals so regraded have been advised to staff with junior staff nurses who have just completed their training at base hospitals and aids from the waiting-lists of applicants from the same hospitals. In many instances this scheme is being carried out successfully. Following on the alteration of the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act of last year, the Home of .Compassion, Island Bay, Wellington, undertook extensive alterations to qualify as a training-school, and was approved as from the Ist January, 1932. It is the intention to confine training to members of their own order. Training of Midwives and Maternity Nurses. Following on the alteration in the scheme of training for midwives and maternity nurses enforced by the new regulations of 1930, it became apparent that it was necessary to draw up a new syllabus carefully outlining the difference between the two courses. This was done early in the year. The new syllabus for maternity nurses who are untrained women provides for instruction in elementary nursing, anatomy, physiology, and elementary cooking ; and the new syllabus for midwives, a more advanced course. The use of the case-book was simplified at the same time. During the year St. Helens Hospitals at Gisborne, Wanganui, and Dunedin were cancelled as training-schools, as well as Picton Maternity Annexe. Examiners. —The previous list of Examiners for the Board has been cancelled. The new approved list contains practically all the original Examiners, and many new names of doctors and nurses who have consented to act. Post-graduate Course for Nurses. Owing to the economic conditions, no course was held in 1931. However, the New Zealand Trained Nurses' Association, who have always shown a most active interest in the establishment of this course, have offered to assist by granting a number of bursaries large enough to cover the cost of board and lodging for students for 1932, with the possibility that some further help may be given in 1933. The result of this assistance has been that a small class is being held which commenced on the 22nd February of this year, under Miss Moore, Nurse Instructor. This action of the Trained Nurses' Association has been deeply appreciated, and shows that nurses are alive to the value of assisting themselves in time of difficulty. Nursing Education. During the past few months the results of two inquiries conducted by Commissions set up by The Lancet in England, and by the Canadian Nurses' Association, together with the Canadian Medical Association in Canada, to study the conditions of the training of nurses, and in Canada the economic future and distribution of the nursing profession as well, have been published. The findings of these Commissions make most interesting reading, and one cannot but be impressed by the similarity of our problems. It is true that the Canadians ask for what we in New Zealand have long enjoyed—a State examination and inspection of training-schools. In England The Lancet Commission did not comment on the lack of State inspection, but the nursing journals draw attention to this point and the need there is for the introduction of the inspection of training schools by a " Nurse Inspector." There is no doubt that in New Zealand State supervision over a long period of years has made for an evenness in the standard of our work.

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