THE STATE SCHOOL OF NURSING IN PRAGUE.

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XVI, Issue 2, 1 April 1923, Page 66

THE STATE SCHOOL OF NURSING IN PRAGUE.

(Written for the Czechoslovak Red Cross Magazine) . In July, 1914, the Department of Health was authorised to establish in Prague a School of Nursing with separate Czech and German department's. Previous to this young women who wished to study nursing were obliged to go to Vienna or to Germany for their professional education and training. The first class entered the school in 1916, and since that time a considerable number of young women have taken the course in the Czech section and have received the diploma in nursing. From the beginning the school has had high standards and in spite of the hardships of war time, and the difficulties of the reconstruction period following the revolution, this standard has been steadily maintained. Only young women of some education and of irreproachable moral character have been accepted as students and the school is organised and conducted on the general plan of a good boarding school . In the summer of 1919 the American Red Cross became deeply interested in the nursing problems of the new Republic, and in the following year the Czecho-

Slovak Red Cross took over the administration of the school for a period of two years, so that the two organisations might co-operate more effectively for the advancement of nursing education in Czecoslovakia. Two American Red Cross nurses were appointed to have charge of the school under the Czechoslovak Red Cross, and at the same time two Czech diplomaed nurses were given scholarships by the American Red Cross for two years' post-graduate study in America so that they might return to their Alma Mater and bring to it the benefits of their wider experience. It is expected that they will be placed in charge of the school on their return to Czechoslovakia. The entire course in the school covers a period of two years and includes the study of anatomy; physiology; bacteriology ; hygiene ; medical, surgical, and gynaecological nursing; the case of infants and children; psychiatry; hospital administration ; civics and public health laws; and social care. A course in English is also given so that the wealth of professional literature in that language may be available for Czech nurses as, so far, there are very few text books and no magazines on nursing in the Czech language . In the first year of the course the work is chiefly theoretical, but in the second year the emphasis is placed upon experience and practice in the different departments of the hospitals where the students receive their training in the technique of nursing. In planning the curriculum the aim has been to make the course cultural as well as technical, for the modern nurse must have broad sympathies and social vision as well as professional knowledge and skill. Instruction is given by professors of the medical university, by physicians on the hospital staff, and by diplomaed nurses who have had special prepartion for teaching in schools of nursing. The school is especially fortunate in having on its staff of lecturers men who are leaders in the medical profession, and who.se interest in the advancement of the nursing profession is active and sincere.

All students live in the school, where every effort is made to provide a comfortable and home-like environment for them. There is a well-equipped class room where nursing procedures are taught by a diplomaed nurse and a pleasant salon where the students may receive their friends or have parties if they wish. A music club lias been organised and has both graduates and students among its members; during the winter a teacher came weekly to instruct them in singing. The alumnae association (Spolek Absolventek Statni Skoly v Praze) has done much to promote the social life of the school by arranging parties and occasional lectures. This association deserves more than a passing mention for its existence is due to the initiative, the idealism and devotion to the nurshijg profession of a few of the graduates of the school. Though it was organised quite recently, its influence is already being felt ; its aims as stated in its constitution, are : — 1. To create an interest in nursing in young women of higher education and good character. 2. To elevate the standards of nursing in the hospitals of this country. 3. To work for the social and economic interests of nurses and for the maintenance of high ethical standards for the nursing profession. An organisation of earnest intelligent women with such objects in view, cannot fail to be of great value to their school as well as to the individual members themselves, and one may look forward to the time when the Alumnae Association of the State School of Nursing in Prague will be represented in the International Council of Nurses. The school is still young, and it has had the handicap of being organised at a time when conditions were particularly unfavourable for new enterprises, yet it has grown steadily stronger; it numbers among its graduates and students women that any school might be proud to claim. Many of its graduates have remained in the State hospital where they have won the respect of the physicians and have

done much to improve conditions in the wards; some are filling responsible positions in other institutions. Thus far the State School of Nursing in Prague is the only one in Czechoslovakia which gives a recognised course of training and a diploma in nursing, therefore, great responsibility rests upon it for this school must not only provide skilled care for the sick, but it must also prepare its nurses to be the future teachers, executives and leaders in this country. Other schools of nursing are urgently needed, for the whole extensive programme for public health is handicapped by the lack of thoroughly trained nurses to assist the physicians in its development. But these schools cannot be established until there are diplomaed Czechoslovak nurses qualified to, direct and to teach in them. The belief that nursing is an occupation fit only for the ignorant and degraded has long been outgrown in England and America — it will soon be a thing of the past in Europe. As the aims and possibilities of modern nursing are better understood young women of good education and social backigroud will see in it a dignified means of earning a livelihood and the opportunity for a wide variety of talent to find expression.