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graduate and as nurses are released from service overseas, It was found necessary to use Man-power direction to increase the number of nursing aids, as the demands on the Civil Nursing Reserve far exceeded the supply of nurses available. A subsequent nursing recruiting campaign achieved encouraging results. Nurses and Midwives Registration Board Two important matters affecting the Nurses and Midwives Registration Board were— (1) Revision of the nursing syllabus. (This will be published together with certain recommendations regarding the necessary clinical experience to be followed by pupil-nurses.) (2) The amendment to the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act, which places the training, examination, and registration of psychiatric nurses under the control of the Board. The personnel of the Board was increased to include the Director-General of Mental Hospitals, or his Deputy, and a registered psychiatric nurse nominated by the New Zealand Nurses Association. Provision for Maternity Cases Hospital Boards have had.to assume responsibility for an increased number of maternity beds, due to (1) the majority of births now taking place in hospitals, (2) the number of private maternity hospitals having decreased, and (3) the birth-rate having increased. There is being experienced ■an acute shortage of midwives, and it will be essential to train more if the standard of obstetrical nursing is to be maintained. Additional Benefits The district nursing benefit and the domestic assistance benefit will provide needed service in the homes of the people. Rehabilitation of Nurses The Rehabilitation Board has appointed an advisory committee from the members of the Nursing Council and the Voluntary Aid Council to attend to the interests of returned nursing sisters and voluntary aids. Ten returned nurses have been granted post-graduate bursaries in New Zealand and a few have obtained bursaries for overseas courses. General A conference of training-school matrons and Nurse Inspectors was held to consider matters of hospital staffing, standard nursing techniques, and the health of nurses. The Nursing Division assisted to draw up a pamphlet on standardized technique for the nursing of tuberculous cases. Forty-four sisters are attending the post-graduate nurses' school. The dietetic training course is now well established. Bursaries are available to assist suitable nurses to take this course. An Occupational-therapy course lias been established at the Avondale Mental Hospital. The tropical nursing service in the Pacific dependencies is being extended. DIVISION OP DENTAL HYGIENE Expansion of Service The work of the Dental Division has continued to expand during the year under review. The School Dental Service now operates at 428 centres, as against 413 at the end of the previous year. As at the 31st March, 1945, the staff numbered 617, including 167 student dental nurses. This represents a net decrease of 18 in the field staff since the previous year, this being accounted for chiefly by the resignation of a number of married dental nurses on the return of their husbands from war service overseas. Further resignations on this account are expected during the next twelve months, but steps have been taken to meet the situation by increasing the annual intake of the Training School from 80 to 100 per year. Additional schools to the number of 18 have been brought within.the scope of the Service, making the total number of schools now receiving treatment 2,321. The number of children under regular treatment is 191,340, an increase of 22,752 during the year. This includes 22,876 children of pre-school age. The total number of operations for the year was 1,576,170, an increase of 113,766 over the previous year. This number included 817,372 reparative fillings in both permanent and deciduous teeth and 199,918 preventive fillings, a total of 1,017,290 fillings. In contrast with this figure, which fepresents approximately the number of teeth preserved for useful service, the number of teeth removed as unsavable (or in some cases to relieve overcrowding) was 76,335, a ratio of 7-5 extractions to every 100 fillings. During the year a full-time appointment has been made to the position of Dental Health Education Officer, thus giving added emphasis to this important phase of the work of the Dental Division. This officer works in close collaboration with and as a member of the Departmental Committee for Health Education, and he acts as the executive officer in the directing of health-education work within the Dental Division. The field staff of the School Dental Service has shown commendable enthusiasm throughout the year, as is shown by the fact that their health-education activities numbered 11,579, an increase of 4,333, or 59 per cent., over the previous year. The School Dental Service Gazette, which is edited by the Dental Health Education Officer, continues to fulfil a most useful function in keeping the widely dispersed staff in close touch with the activities of the Service as a whole, and is invaluable as a means of maintaining the spirit and morale of the Service. The further development of State dental services to the adolescent section of the community has received close attention during the year, with a view to the early inauguration of such a service. This, together with the growth of the School Dental Service, has necessitated changes in the administrative organization of the Division, including the appointment of a Deputy Director and an Assistant Director (Training). The latter appointment is combined for the time being with that of Principal of the Dominion Training School for Dental Nurses. The officers in control of districts have been given the status of Principal Dental Officers, and appointments in the grade of Senior Dental Officer are to be made to Whangarei, Gisborne, and Wellington. Headquarters of the Wellington Dental District has been transferred from Wellington to Palmerston North,

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