Rights and Privileges of Army Nurses, U.S.A.

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XIV, Issue 1, 1 January 1921, Page 29

Rights and Privileges of Army Nurses, U.S.A.

We have received with much pleasure from Major Julia C. Stimson, Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, U.S.A., a copy of General Orders issued from the War Department, Washington, enumerating- the "Rights and Privileges" determined by the Secretary of War, as conferred by the Army Reorganisation Ad of June 4th, 1920, which gives rank to nurses. Section of the Act of Congress provides as follows: — '/Hereafter the members of the Army Nurse Corps .shall have relative rank as follows: The Superintendent shall have the relative rank of .Major; the Assistant Superintendents, Director, and Assistant Directors, the relative rank of Captain; Chief Nurses the relative rank of First Lieutenant; Head Nurses and Nurses the relative rank of Second Lieutenant; and as regards medical and sanitary matters, and all oilier work within the line of their professional duties, shall have authority in and about military hospitals next after the officers of the Medical Department. The Secretary of War shall make the necessary regulations prescribing the rights and privileges conferred by -such relative* rank." The following* are announced as the rights and privileges of nurses under the foregoing, the term " nurses, " as used herein, being' interpreted to include all members of the Army Nurse Corps, irrespective of their relative rank : — 1. While nurses are not commissioned officers, their relative standing* in the Army corresponds to that of commissioned officers. 2. Nurses will be accorded the precedence indicated by their relative rank, and the same respect and protection in their positions as commissioned officers. 3. Nurses will be accorded the same obedience from enlisted men and patients in and about military hospitals as is aceorded commissioned officers of a like grade. 4. Nurses are not eligible for detail as members of courts-martial, but may pre-

fer charges against any member of the military service. 5. To denote their relative rank, nurses will wear on their uniforms, in the same manner as is prescribed for officers, the insignia of rank worn by commissioned officers of the grades corresponding to the relative rank conferred upon them. 6. Nurses will salute and be sainted in the same manner, and under the same conditions, as prescribed for com missioned (Officers. 7. In all reports, returns, orders and other official documents, the titles corresponding to the relative rank conferred upon nurses will be used in the same manner as is prescribed for commissioned officers. 8. Nurses are entitled to the same allowances and privileges, except mileage, as are prescribed for commissioned officers of grades corresponding to their relative rank, viz., commutation of quarters when quarters in kind are not available; commutation of light and heat; purchase privileges ; insurance privileges ; gratuities; and, in general, all such personal privileges and perquisites, not specifically denied them, as go with commissioned rank, and are customarily enjoyed by commissioned officers. 9. Pay and allowances of nurses are set forth in Chapter V of the Act of Congress, approved July 8, 1918, as modified by five Act of Congress approved .May 18, 1920. 10. The relative rank conferred upon nurses does not alter the existing* methods of their appointment, assignment to duty, transfer, separation from the Service, and general control, nor the character of the duties now being required of them. 11. Nurses will be governed by the same censorship regulations as are prescribed for commissioned (Officers. 12. Upon honourable discharge from the Service they will be given a certificate of discharge similar to that used for temporary officers.

The effect of xhe foregoing regulations must be to increase the efficiency of the Army Nurse Corps, for authority should always accompany responsibility, and high responsibilities devolve upon its members.: — From the "British Journal of Nursing. ' ' [The above is of interest to all Army nurses. The American nurses a**e to be congratulated on the success of their efforts to obtain this recognition, and their success will no doubt be some assistance to the efforts which we understand

are to be made to obtain rank for nurses in the British Army. In the Canadian Army this has been the right of the nurses throughout the \\ ar. In tin? Australian Expeditionary Force nurses were allowed to wear the A.N. Service badges. The position of nurses as next in rank and authority after medical officers was announced in orders both here and abroad. 'There is no doubt that the possession of a definite rank and the wearing of its insignia would be of the greatest assistance to nurses in the carrying out of their work and authority.]