The Future of Private Nursing

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 1 April 1928, Page 61

The Future of Private Nursing

The question was recently asked: Are the days of private nurses over? It is a question difficult to answer. There is no doubt that owing to the tendency of doctors to send their patients to some convenient private hospital, partly m order to economise time and energy m going from one place to another, partly on account of the facilities of treatment m a well-equipped hospital, the number of patients calling for a nurse to attend them m their homes has very considerably decreased. Tt is almost unknown nowadays for a nurse to be called to an operation case m a private house. We remember the time when we went m ad-

vance to prepare patient and room for even major surgical cases, taking with us from a private hospital the necessary dressings and instruments ready sterilised. The surgeon arriving next morning, would expect to find everything ready, and after the operation the nurse would have the sole responsibility of watching the case and reporting to him any untoward change. There is also the tendency of the public, even those who can afford to pay private fees, to make .use of the General Hospital far more freely than m the past. That tendency is even eliminating all but the very best equipped private hospitals. In the last

fourteen years, the proportion of the general public using the public hospitals annually has increased from 24 to 46 per thousand of population. Domestic difficulties also deter people from remaining m their homes and calling m a nurse, and here we must give a word of warning to nurses. Many people complain that a nurse, rather than helping, upsets the domestic routine. We feel, m justice to nurses, that it is only fair to say that there are still many who earn their patient's gratitude for real help m time of stress, over and above the actual nursing of the sick ones. The establishment of the semi-private Church Hospitals, which has been taking place recently, must also greatly affect the demand for private nurses ; and the provision of private Avards m the General Hospitals, which is so much recommended by various authorities, if carried out, will be another big factor m this matter. In the smaller country hospitals, private patients are also frequently taken and nursed m side wards by the ordinary staff, who, m former times, would have engaged a private nurse from town. The extensive preventive measures now taken by the Health Department tend to minimise the epidemics which formerly called for more nurses than were available. Nurses should carefully consider the future of their chosen profession. They should not, as they qualify, rush to leave their training schools and swell the ranks of those waiting for private work. They

should take advantage of the opportunities offered of post-graduate training and experience, and so prepare themselves for the developments which are slowly, but surely, evolving m the many branches of preventive work, and which will need exceptionally well qualified and experienced women. Pension Scheme for Nurses We read m the "Nursing Times" of December 31st, 1927, that the scheme for superannuation of nurses and hospital officers which has been spoken of for some years, was to come into operation on January Ist, 1928, and that it begins its career with the support of ninetyseven hospitals. The scheme is worked m co-operation between the College of Nursing, King Edward's Hospital Fund, the British Hospitals Association, and the Incorporated Society of Hospital Officers. The nurses will join as probationers, and will continue as they obtain appointments m other hospitals, whether m London or the provision m private nursing. We gather that the benefits of the scheme for private nurses depends on the voluntary co-operation of those for whom they work, is by no means a certainty. This is the weak point m our own scheme, now well established for hospital nurses, but it is hoped that m time all nurses, however employed, may be included. Health Department cricket match. An onlooker enquired what theatrical company was playing cricket this day !