The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-19
THE TRAINING OF A NURSE.
Changes Made Necessary by the In
creasing supply of Young Women.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
No better gauge could be found of the
ere crOWding into commercial pursuits than
the present state of the professions of nurS-
ing. Fearfully arduous as this profession
is immense as are its drafts upon physical
strength and mental alertness, particularly
in the two or three years training, 1t is
still overcrowded, so far as applicants for
the training schools are concerned. The
large hospitals in this city have waiting
lists from year to sixteen months In ad-
vance. That is, If young woman twenty
five years of age, in good physical health
and otherwise fulfilling the requirements,
mission to any training school, she would
be unlikely to get an opportunity to begin
her two years training before January
next or perhaps year from next April
The natural consequence of this excess
of supply over demand Is the raising or
the general STANDARD ana inin cboos
This tendency receives additional force
from the disposition Shown more and more
by cOllege-bred women to enter this pro-
fession. and from the fact that many young
women from the millionaire families OF New
York-among others one of the Vanderoilts-
have recently been or are now taking the
two years training in the great city hos
pitfalls
One of the rules in force in all the hos
pitfalls is that no person shall be accepted
for training who has ever occupied
mental position.
rious homes. once accepted for trial, have
to undergo a probation of from two months
Ono one is ever admitted under less) to
seven or eight months, or longer. During
this probationary term the novice does the
mental work of the ward, the Scrubbing,
securing, bed -making, and the thousand and
one details of the service. Upon the spirit
shown in this work depends largely the
chance of admission to the training school,
for above all things a nurse must be clean
and thorough. Her hours are those in force
throughout the system--twelve hours a day,
with one hours recreation and half an hour
for dinner in the middle of the day.
X,
until 10, the nurse is at liberty, and for four
hours on Sunday: all these subject to emer-
gency calls. 1t may happen at any time
that the nurse or probationer is called upon,
in consequence of an unusual pressure of
evening in the month the nurse is allowed
to pass which permits her to stay out until
IL O'Clock. For the rest the lights go out
at 10, at which time all the nurses, except
by special permission, must be in quarters.
These rules are enforced with military
StrctneSS.
The proportion of probationers accepted
for training is very small A girl may serve
two, four or eight months on probation and
then be discharged If found not competent
to the severe demands of the work But
when accepted the novice receives the
badge of the cap and enters at once upon
the full duty of nurse. She is paid a
monthly salary of about $40, which is sup
posed simply TO cover the cost of uniforms
and shoes, the wear on which is, of course,
In the two years course the nurse is on
duty. with the exceptions stated for twelve
HOuIS d. udy. OuIlIlS Ills llIHc very OllCI
she has not a moment for rest; her work
is the hardest possible The strain on her
physical endurance is immense, and in adj
ditiOn, she must be mentally on the alert
every instant. She has the whole reSpOnSiA
bility of giving medicines and of watching
and reporting upon from four to a dozen
cases at a time. In the hardest wards-the
accident or typhoid, for instance-the life or
death of any one of these patients may
depend upon the nurse. The responsibility
of dozen such cases at a time is enough
to appal the outsider merely to think of.
With all this the nurse has the conscious
ness that at any time during her training
tentiOn she is liable to expulsion.
Under these circumstances it is certainly
not surprising that no more than % per
cent of the nurses in the training school
finish their two years course and graduate.
The wonder is that the proportion should
be so large. 1t is hardly possible to i'm
agne severer trial of the physical and
A nurse who has graduated from such
school, including as it does some months of
night duty. when the strain Of work and of
responsibility is, if anything, heavier, is GER
tainly competent to any demands likely to
be made upon her in pursuing her profess
sion.
Under the new system which is now in
force in some of the city hospitals and is
likely to be extended to all, the course of
training is extended to three years, and the
day shortened to eight hours. No wages are
paid, and the nurse is required to deposit
on entering a certain sum as guarantee-in
one hospital 500 year
After graduation and in course of profess
sional duty the trained nurse receives from
$25 week upward But no one who knows
the labor involved will maintain that the
money is not well earned.