State Examination of Nurses

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume III, Issue 3, 1 July 1910, Page 111

State Examination of Nurses

At the recent examination for the State Registration of Nurses, under " The Nurses' Registration Act," 1901, the following candidates were successful. Their names appear in order of merit : — Ethel M. Dement, Wellington ; Jessie Goldfinch, Wanganui ; Winifred Stubbs, Nelson ; Rebecca Curtain, Wanganui, and Minnine Jeffery, Dunedin (equal) ; Ethel J. Lloyd, Wellington ; Phebe C. Cope, Wellington, anel Evelyn Nosworthy, Dunedin (equal); Florence Evans, Wellington, anel Eliza M'Knight, Dunedin (equal) ; Letitia Campbell, Dunedin ; Eva M. Mead, Wellington, and Elsie M'Allum, New Plymouth (equal) ; Louise Higginson, Hamilton ; Jean Hart, Wanganui ; Eliza A. Symth, Christchurch ; Monica Gillon, Greymouth ; Violet J. Price, Wellington, Winifred G. Morris, Wellington, Ruth Smith, Auckland, and Janet M'Ghie, Naseby (equal) ; Mabel E. J. Kittelty, Greymouth, anel Marion Petrie, Greymouth (equal) ; Dora- Bull, Christchurch ; Eva P. Walsh, Auckland ; Ruth Gilmer, Wellington, and Dora Moore, Dunedin (equal) ; Mary M'Beth, Wellington ; Nellie Grace, Greymouth ; Grace Calder, Dunedin ; Nina W. Black, Thames ; Lucy Bowie, Timaru ; Lilian Fairhall, Nelson ; Ella M'Kay, Christchurch ; Olive L. Long, Wellington ; Beatrice Noall, Christchurch ; Dora E. Giffney, Auckland, and Alice C. Fraser, Auckland (equal) ; Ellen I. Shaw, Wellington ; Maud Atkinson, Auckland ; Blanche Hadland, Auckland ; Isabel Cruickshank, Dunedin ; Hilda F. Whitehouse, Ashburton ; and Lucy C. M'Leod, Christchurch. In our next issue we hope to publish some comments by the examiners, together with the best answers. Midwifery The State examination of pupil nurses trained under " The Midwives Act " was held in Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland, and Christchurch on lst and 2nd June, and the fexllowing candidates passed. Their names appear in order of merit : — Sarah Warnock, St. Helens Hospital, Wellington ; Lucy Barket, St. Helens Hospital, Aucklanel ; Lily Worthington, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch ; Harriet Newman, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch ; Martha

Broadley and Elizabeth Brown, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch (equal) ; Charlotte Parker, St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin, and Jean Cormack, Medical School Maternity Hospital, Dunedin (equal) ; Eliza Sutherland St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin ; Hilda Pierce, St. Helens Hospital, Wellington ; Ada Kimber, St. Helens Hospital, Wellington ; Mary Hardy, St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin ; Elizabeth Prentice, Medical School Maternity Hospital, Duneelin ; Sara Garrett, St. Helens Hospital, Wellington, Ethel Paris, St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin, Laura Baker, St. Helens Hospital, Auckland, Annie Luke, St Helens Hospital, Auckland, Elizabeth Howson, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch (equal) ; Minnie Harley, St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin ; Jessie Aitken, St. Helens Hospital, Auckland ; Annie Dunshea, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch ; Margaret Spurdle, St. Helens Hospital, Wellington ; Eliza Lett, St. Helens Hospital, Christchurch. The examiner's comments upon the examination appear below, with the answers which he has selected as being the most satisfactory. OUESTIONS. 1. What information do you expect to obtain on making a vaginal examination of a patient in labour ? What other method of examination may be used ? What is the great advantage of that other method ? 2. What is the bag of membranes, anel its uses. When would you consider it necessary to rupture it ? How would you do so ? 3. Describe the third stage of a normal labour ? How would you conduct it ? 4. In a case of premature birth, how would you care for the infant during the period of its immaturity ? 5. What is the cause of abscess of the breast ? How would you endeavour to avoid it ? If the breast has become inflameel, how would you treat it ? 6. Puerperal eclampsia : What condition during pregnancy would lead you to expect its occurrence ? What treatment (not obstetric) would you adopt — (1) during the attack, (2) during the interval ?

Examiner's Comments. The paper, as you would have noticed, was a very fair one, and I was justified in expecting that all the questions would be answered by all the candidates, and that they would make no mistakes of omission or commission with regard to certain essentials in each question. I regard the certificate which they seek to obtain as a guarantee of their efficiency in their practical work, and not as a mark of academic distinction. The papers present the usual peculiarities of the examined. Some answered as if they were using telegraph forms, and every word would be counted. With a short preliminary introduction to the answer, this method is not displeasing to the examiner. Others remembered their text-book, and wrote voluminously from memory. In nearly all cases this method is to be eh'scouraged, as it leads them away into regions beyond the answer to the question, as the examiner has to sift the grain from the chaff, and especially as no stress is laid by them on the important and essential matters which we are endeavouring to elicit their acquaintance with. It is evident that many do not first read the question over slowly and carefully, and endeavour to grasp accurately the scope of the question before they begin to answer it. In all the questions, as examiner, I remembered that I was dealing with nurses not in the first week or so of their training, but with women of considerable practical experience, and after careful instruction, who hope to call themselves certificated midwives when this ordeal is over. In the first question, for instance, I pictured the nurse imagining that she has been summoned to a patient, and having made her necessary preparations, is going to make a vaginal examination. She is going to examine with some purpose in her mind ; accordingly, her answers to the question could be short and categorical. Candidate No. 3 gave the best answer. Her list, numbered nicety, was not quite in the logical order I would have liked in such a good answer, anel there were some slight omissions. By-the-way, I am bounel to say that I gave an extra mark to the nurses who put first the fact that in a primipara they were interested in finding out whether the foetal head was on tlie pelvis — low down — at the beginning of labour. All answered the second portion of the question, but a great many did not read carefully the dependent query^as to what

was the great advantage of abdominal palpation. Some did not mention the great advantage in the avoidance of the possibility of introduction of septic matter into the genital tract, which was the only answer expected. Question No. 2 : This was answered voluminously by No. 9. In this question I wanted particularly to finel cut if the candidates understood the importance of preserving the bag e>f waters as long as possible. Question No. 3 : " No. 2 gave the best answer. The only point I wish to emphasise in practically the whole of the answers was the want of notice which they gave the patient's pulse as an indication of her condition, and of the probability of haemorrhage. Question 1 was uniformly very well answered. Nos. 2 and 3 received full marks. The very important point that warmth is more necessary than food was stateel first in all answeis. Ouestion 5 : No. 9 gave the best answer. Tne essential points in the answers were the dependence of abscess on septic germs introduced into the breast tissue, and the early recognition of the possibility of suppuration having occurred, with a view to early incision. One candidate quite missed these points, and I regard such an answer as almost valueless. Ouestion 6 was answered best by No. 13. I commend it for a straight-forward answer. Many gave me the chapter cut of the book. Most omitted the great benefit to be obtained from the examination of the urine of all pregnant women during their pregnancy. The second part of the question was uniformly well answered.