Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-03-19
THE TRAINED NURSE.
A VOCATION ATTRACTING LARGE
NUMBERS OF GENTLE WOMEN.
Indispensable Services She Renders
The Difficulties She Encounfers-
Qualities That Distinguish her NJ
Her Best--some Early Examples.
cNew York Evening Post)

more genueWOmen nave thl'iN' -
schools of nursing during the last five or
six years than ever before, and that the
education. refinement, and delicate dis
elimination Of a lady are coming to be
more and more demanded as indispensa-
bic in that vocation. The trained nurse
is now accepted az so natural and essen
tial complement Of life. that it IS a
matter of wonder how the world ever got
along without her.
There is still a ghost of prejudice against
the trained nurse, a remnant OF the old
feeling that paid services cannot be sub
stituted for family care and solicitude,
but these sentiments are exceptional. She
has now appropriated a new field-name-
ly. the ground formerly occupied by the
companion. "A trained nurse can read
to me and post me up on current events,
and advise as 10 the shape of my bonnet
and bodice just as well as mere com
panion," testifes a woman able 20 indulge
in luxuries. "She looks after my health
and bodily comfort as well, and outranks
the companion in every way"
TACT THE BEST EQUIPMENT.
what do / think the best equipment fol
a trained nurse?" repeated a physician
when asked 10 talk on the subject. Il
should say that tact is, far and away, the
| essential requisite. A nurse may thorough
ly understand her materia medica and
every other textbook; she may be light OF
foot deft OF touch and soft OF voice, and
possess many other delightful qualities
but If she has not tact she will never be a
success. Here is an instance: l sent a
young woman TO an uptown house 10
nurse a case where an operation had "a
be performed She was intelligent, OF
pleasing appearance, and, l thought, just
the right person in the right place. she
rendered acceptable service during the
operation, and babe fair TO do well. The
next day had TO dismiss her, and why
Because, when all the danger was over
she failed TO appreciate the anxiety Of the
patients family. She went out 70 get
breath Of fresh air. remained nearly three
hours. and when ] made my afternoon
visit I found the patients mother almost
in Mysteries from nervousness, and me
feeling that there was no one 10 take any
responsibility Off Of her shoulders. There
was no reason for the nervousness; every
thing was going on right. The nurse knew
this. but II she had had tact she would
not have left the premises at all on the
day after the operation. There has never
been a training school yet that could
teach that sort of sense.
ALL SORTS OF NURSES.
How many kinds of nurses have we?
All sorts and conditions. There are
thousands in the profession now The
term Of training has been purposely
heightened from two years TO three, in
order TO prevent what may be termed an
overcrowding Of the ranks. Some fear
that the supply Of nurses will exceed
the demand, II the training-schools keep
on turning out such large classes. In
nv Judgment. the ranks of really first
dass nurses are never likely to DO over
crowded. At the top OF the list is the
nurse who loves her profession for its
own sake, and whose natural capability
would have found vent whether she had
had training or not. This kind Of nurse
IS precious, above price. The nurse who
Is working for money does well. also.
provided she has exceptional intelligence,
and a comprehension Of the fact that
only by O. faithful discharge of her du-
ties will she get gOod-paying cases. Her
ambition for a successful career stands
to her patients IN the stead OF the genu-
inc interest that the born nurse displays.
There is always proportion OF indiner-
ent nurses, those who work merely for
the wages, and because they have 10,
Nit having stumbled. on any other voca-
ton. Last in the list are those who go
into nursing for the excitement Of the
thing.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.
THE excitement? Yes. Say young
woman lives in a little, interior town.
where things move along slowly, or
rather don't move at ALL and she Graves
9TH 10 QNiGfpnHR
thinks over her capabilities and limita-
tions. and considers that, IL she IS an
acceptable probationer. she Will be
taken on at the big City Hospital, and
not only get her living, but be paid
stipend besides. I'll 90 down to the
hospital' she decides. There VIII be a
lot Of young doctors there and lot
Of girls and I'll have a little fund sand
wiched in with the work II is need
less to say that. although she stands
the cleaning and scrubbng and various
disaereeables that fall TO the probation
er's share, she seldom IS heard OF In
nursedom after graduation. 1t is for
lust such as she that the probationeTs
month or six weeks Of trial is made
uncompromisingly hard. IL Is conuived
for the survival OF the 1lttest. Inc
greatest trouble that the governors and
matrons have TO contend with in the
hospltals Is the craving for excitement
and gayetv on the part Of the young
nurses That is why, when the nurses
give a ball or a reception, the doctors
in the hospital are excluded from the
list Of invitations, an arrangement that
breeds dissatisfaction. 1t IS perfectly
natural that the young people should
like 10 be together, but nonsense de-
moralizes their purpose. Another phase
under
notice IS the fact that a woman who
will work like a Trojan over a critical
case that enllsts her interest will make
the poorest kind Of convalescent nurse
She will do herculean things in the way
of unseIfshness and devotion as long
as the patients life is in danger, and
then flag altogether, and be a mere ng-
urehead when the crisis IL passed.
The GOOD convelescent nurse is, perhaps,
the finer development. The nature that
can display patience and evenness IN
small things. and keep on in beaten
track that is never likely TO win her
much praise, must be superior 10 the
temperament that needs sharp emer-
gency TO stimulate 1t
PROGRESS IN TWENTY THREE
YEARS
II IS interesting TO bark back to the
days Wheh the udiicu HuinD ""D -
known quantity, or at best, an expert
ment 1t is twenty-three years since the
first class OF nurses was graduated In
New York Previously the women I'M
prisoned for reform were utilized as
nurses in the city Neutrality-suspicious. who
had been sent TO the Island. and who for
the most part had a weakness for intoxi-
eating beverages.
patients left to the tender mercies OF
these haphazard nurses had time OF IL,
saws a doctor who was In authority at
that period "There was no surety that
any prescribed stimulant or tonic ever