Nurses' and Midwives' Registration Board

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XXII, Issue 2, 1 April 1929, Page 78

Nurses' and Midwives' Registration Board

The Nurses' and Midwives' Registration Board held its quarterly meeting m the office of the Deputy Director-General of Health, Parliamentary Library Buildings, Wellington, on Tuesday afternoon, sth March. Miss E. P. Tennent, Matron of the Public Hospital, Dunedin, and Miss H. E. Newman, late Matron of St. Helens Hospital, Wellington, were present for the first time as members of the Board, and received a hearty welcome from the Chairman. Before proceeding with the agenda, the Board passed a unanimous vote of thanks to the retiring members of the Board, Misses H. C. Inglis and L. Kohn, and instruced that a letter of appreciation and thanks be forwarded to them for their services on the Board at the particularly difficult time of initiating the Board's policy and work. Considerable business was dealt with, amongst which matters of general interest to nurses and midwives were : — 1. Approval was given to the appointments of Miss Ida Clements as Sis-ter-in-Charge of the Training School for Maternity Nurses at the Masterton Hospital, and Miss M. L. Vyner, as Sister-in-Charge of the Training School for Maternity Nurses at the Timaru Hospital. 2. The whole question of the present scheme of training maternity nurses and midwives was discussed by the Board m the light of the effort of several Hospital Boards to have the "maternity nurse" class cut out and retain only one course of training for all persons — that of "midwife." The Board gave the matter very lengthy and careful consideration, and unanimously came to the conclusion that the present scheme of training has very great advantages over the scheme m force prior to the passing of the Nurses' and Midwives' Registration Act, 1925, and were of opinion that the present system should undoubtedly be retained.

3. The Batchelor Hospital, Dunedin, and St. Helens Hospital, Dunedin, are going to alter the system so that they will mainly function as a training: school for medical students, thus providing much greater opportunity for practical work than the students have hitherto been able to obtain. 4. Reciprocity: It was reported that reciprocity had now been arranged with the General Nursing Council, Scotland, for general trained nurses, and also with the Registration Board, Tasmania, for both general nurses and midwives. 5. Examiners: Dr. Alfred S. Gray, of Thames, and Miss Elizabeth Deans, ■ Matron of the Coromandel Hospital, were added to the list of examiners under the Registration Act. f). Sterilisation of Dressings: It was reported to the Board that m many of the training schools trainees were only allowed to witness the sterilisation of the dressings, and not to actually undertake this work themselves. The Board realised that Matrons would naturally be chary about allowing unqualified persons to do the dressings and use the steriliser, but training schools are to be circularised advising that trainees must be allowed to , do this work themselves, only, however, m the presence of the Matron or a qualified sister. 7. A considerable t number of applications were dealt with, and five persons with overseas qualifications were registered as general nurses together with all the New Zealand graduates at the last State examination. One overseas applicant was registered as a midwife together with the New Zealand graduates at the last examination, and eight overseas applicants were registered as maternity nurses, together with the New Zealand graduates at the last examination.