The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-04-01
How Nnrsos Arn rrninnd-


1nere are three great training-school-
lor nurses in New York city, at Belle
vue, the Charity and the New York hos
pltals. AT Bellevue nine wards of the
hospital are assigned to the use of the
| school. The course of training is
thorough one. Besides bedside instruc-
tlon from the house staff and lectures
rom the surgeons and physicians on
points connected with the care of the
SICK, lessons in bandaging and the cook
ing OF invalid fare are given, and con-
slant practice in the nursing of surgical
and medical cases is kept up. The board,
lodging and washing of nurses are pro-
| vided. Two years is the term of service,
| the first being devoted to training and
the second to practical nursing, either as
head nurses or as attendants to private
cases outside the hospital. Ten dollars
a month is paid the first and sixteen dol
lars the second year. The charges for
outside nursing go to the hospital, which
is always ready to furnish private inva-
lids with nurses on reasonable terms.
The Charity hospital school is under
the authority of the commissioners of
charities and correction. The instruc-
ton is in special forms of medical and
surgical nursing, the term OF tuition the
same as that at Bellevue, and the pay ten
to fifteen dollars month, with board
and washing. Pupils must be over
twenty and under thirty-five years old,
and must present with their applications
for instruction certificates of moral and
physical soundness from a responsible
citizen and n doctor. Services in the
ward of the hospital and the lying-in
wards of the Maternity hospital, and
lectures on the various branches of nurs-
ing, form the curriculum. Frequent ex-
aminations are held by the chief of staff
OF the two years diplomas are given to
those qualified.
The same course of practical instruc-
tion, extending over the same length of
time, is given at the New York hospital.
There are, too, elementary lessons in
anatomy. physiology and hygiene. One
monti OF each year may be spent in the
kitchen and one in the laundry. The in
structlon in the kitchen consists OF plain
cooking and all the varieties of special
diet, from gruels up. That in the laun'
dry comprises plain and fancy washing
and ironing. Competent chiefs in each
department act as tutors. At the end OF
the first year second class is formed,
and the nurses of the first class become
heads of the wards for next year. An
examination and diploma end the term.
The classes are limited to twelve stu
dents each, of from twenty to thirty
years old, in good health and with
a fair English &c ucation. Certificates of
character are also in rule. Applications
of admission to the New York hospital
school are made to the board. The lady
superintendent has charge of that de-
partment for Bellevue, and chief of staff
of the Charity hosnital posses IN anpli-
cants fort hat course. whom. on approval,
he turns over to the board of commits
sioners for final endorsement. Medical
men speak in the highest terms of these
schools and their system ofinstructions,
and they are said to have done incalcul.
able good in raising what was up to II
few years ago a mere trade TO the Level
of an honorable and useful business, OF
rather profession.