An Interesting Case in Private Nursing

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume VII, Issue 3, 1 July 1914, Page 137

An Interesting Case in Private Nursing

My first patient was a little boy of twelve years with typhoid in Gisbomo. I was there for six and a-half weeks, and then brought him home back to Auckland, and was with him there for another ten days. He was very bad for two weeks, but seemed to recover fairly quickly after. He had a very unusual complication — one that I had never seen before, and the doctor had only had one other case of a similar condition . He had a form of pa raly sis of the vocal chords — was able to make a slight noise, but could not speak at all. I had to teach him to speak, by making him frequently try t) sound the vowels. After about three weeks he was able to speak fairly distinctly, although very slowly. Before I left he appeared quite recovered E. M. N.

Note from a recently-qualified general and midwifery nurse : — " We always look back to our training m Wellington as a happy time. We had heard so much about the ' hard ' midwifery training, but it was a very pleasant surprise. Some people seem to think that one can get all one's experience without having to work at all.

I really think every nurse should devote at least twelve months of her life to the back-blocks."

We agree with our correspondent. A year so given would not be lost, and if all nurses made up their minds to do this we should not have the great difficulty m obtaining suitable nurses for this important work — such difficulty that sometimes the people must be content with a nurse qualified m midwifery alone. The women out back are the ones who chiefly need the help, therefore better midwifery alone than no midwifery.