The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-09-29
A Field FOR WOMEN.
As Nurses in Hospitals and
in Private Cases They
Are Always
Needed.
THE PERIOD OF PROBATION.
Requirements and Training Neces-
sary-Advantages for Women
Of Intelligence.

Many comprehensive and exhaus-
tive articles have been written on the
life and work of trained hospital
nurses, but as yet little has been said
concerning their preliminary instruc-
ton, either practical or theoretical,
and still this is not the least interest
ing phase of the nurses career. Not
so many years ago convalescing pa
tients were of some service in their
stronger moments, and some of these,
having acquired a thoroughness of
care and a practical efficiency, were
employed as regular nurses.
Oftentimes there was an extreme
scarcity in the number of nurses, and
it is related that a tout of the ,"em-
ployment" offices of the city has been
made, and the more respectable of
the applicants for positions selected
as assistants to the nurses. In time,
when experience and intuitive know
ledge of the art of caring for the sick
had perfected their practical training,
they were graduated into the ranks
of nurses, and some of the more adept
became head nurses and snperin-
tendents of nurses.
But this was an octave or more of
years ago.. This was during a regime
when the supply was not nearly equal
to the demand and when samaritan
ism did not walk hand in hand with
intelligence and culture. The train
ing school for nurses, however, has
ut once and for all time put an end to
the practical training only, and now
the trained nurse is a mistress of
theory, both surgical and medical.
This is especially true of the City
Hospital. The training school at
this institution is the largest in the
country, and its popularity and
recognized worth are attested by the
the 700 applicants for the forty vacant
places of one year.
Until recently there were two
methods of managing the nurses
training schools. There were COR
poratiye organizations, some of which
were independent of, but the greater
number attached TO, some hospital
having wards for the sick, and there
were training schools combined under
management, generally the
trustees or managing board of the
hospital.
The Boston City Hospital Training
School is controlled by the trustees of
the hospital, like all other depart
ments of the hospital service. The
superintendent of the hospital has
the general supervision of all matters
relating to the school, it's course of
work and study, lectures and disci-
pline.
The superintendent of nurses has
the immediate charge of all the nurs-
ing in the hospital, of all nurses en-
ployed in the wards and also the in
struction and management of all
nurses in the training school. All
female nurses in the hospital must be
connected with the school. This
should for all time silence those who
speak of the inability or want of care
of the hospital nurses. At the present
day there is no one, not even the reg
ular physician, more alive to the
emergencies and dangers of a situa-
tion than q professional trained nurse.
As a we'll known physician has said,
professional nursing implies intelii-
gence."
DESIRABLE CANDIDATES.
1t will no doubt interest the public
to know who these nurses are. where
they come from and what constitutes
their method of training. In the
first place the applicants are natives
of every civilized country. The rich
often apply in person, but the pre-
/. liminary correspondence is usually
carried on by letter. According TO
the prospectus of the school the most
| desirable age for candidates is from
! twenty-three to t~hirty-fve years.
They must be of sound health, and
+ should send with their application a
. certificate from a physician certifying
) to the fact. They should also send
a brief personal history, and give the
names and addresses of three respon-
sible. persons, not of their own kin,
I who know of their good character and
capabilities.
Then a letter is sent to the appIi.
cant, in which she is requested to
: write a personal letter stating age,
: height, weight, health, strength, edu.
cational advantages. family ties, and
i her reasons and motives for desiring
the education of a nurse in order tc
ascertain if she is eligible to become q
. candidate. Careful and amore or less
: exhaustive scrutiny is made as to the
= ~antecedents. character. education and
general fitness Of each candidate, re,
! curing in some cases many weeks
before the candidate is accepted OF
rejected.
/, RECEIVED ON PROBATION.
. After tins, upon the recolniaenda-
tionshof the superintendent and THE
Il approval Of the trustees, they twill be
received for two months on pfopa
! lstion.e The fitness of candidates fol
the training and work, and the pro
priety OF retaining or dismissing them,