The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-28
OUR CONTRIBUTORS.
LIFE AND WORK OF TRAINED
NURSES.
BY MISS MARION E. SMITH.
Chief Nurse Philadelphia Hospital.
II.-Hospital Employment.


The duties and privileges of perma
nent graduate nurse in charge of hos
pital ward or floor are numerous and
varied. To begin with, before she is put
in such position. she must have been
proved to be woman of strength Of
character sufficient to enable her to man.
age many minds and temperaments.
She must be fearless of others opin.
ions in matters of conscience, with
sense Of duty strong enough to make
her hesitate not moment to report me-
glect of duty or infringement of rulee.
She must under all circumstances, be
unfalteringly honest, sober minded, new
er fippant in speech or act. She has
charge of both nurses and patients un
der her care, and this should be made
as nearly complete as possible, scope
being given her to carry out her own
ideas, as far, and only so far. as they
concur with the general management
and system of the hospital. She must
be held responsible for the nursing, COM
fort, cleanliness, feeding, conduct and
discipline of her patients and the gener-
al morale of the floor. She will see that
the wards are clean. and this includes
everything in them-''so clean that they
cannot be made cleaner" orderly, quiet
well-ventilated and of the proper tenn.
perature; that bath rooms and water
closets are in perfect order, clean and
disinfected daily. She should personally
daily inspect ice-chests and see that
they are odorless and sweet, vessels,
cupboards and closets; should see that
dining-room and kitchen are free from
reaches and that the food is served hot
and punctually; that linen closets and
supply-cupboards are well stocked and
always ready for inspection; that the
medicine and treatment and diet lists
are corrected daily and are neat and ac-
cessible. She will see that ward and
corridor walls are swept once week
with long-handled brush, and that all
paint is clean and spotless. She is re-
sponsible to the superintendent of the
training school for the work of all her
subordinRtes, the ward maids, scrubbers
orderlies, and, of course. the nurses. To
her belongs largely the practical train
ing of the pupil nurses-a very serious
and responsible undertaking.
Upon her report of probationer the
head of the school necessarily has great
ly to depend. and her judgment must
be good and her perception quick, or how
can she determine the difference be-
tween stupidity and slowness in new
pupil; Or, again, distinguish shyness.
and its attendant short answers from the
intentional bad manners of a self satis-
fed and opinionated probationer? The
blunders of ignorance must be weeded
out from the natural awkwardness which
no training can undo or alter, and the
untidy ward, resulting from overwork,
from that due to hsbitually unsystem.
attic methods.
She must be perfectly impartial, just
and firm, yet withal this she will need
also to be kind. patient and persevering,
remembering that eternal vigilance is
the price of success" Though the
routine work be wearisome, it must not
be neglected in any detail, no matter
how trivial it may appear Though it is
doubtful if anything connected with
hospital work can be justly deemed
trivial.) Let her strive against that mar
row -mindedness which comes to some as
result of institution work, and which
magniGes nearby objects so as to shut
out those at distance, unimportant
matters assuming great proportions.
She should maintain harmony. if pos
sible, and be bond of peace. never
fault-fnding or quarrrelsome. She
should know accurately the physical
condition of her patients and make
rounds with the physicians when prac-
ticable. She will instruct the proba-
TONERS personally by the bedside and in
the ward, as to taking of temperatures
and of all clinical records, making beds
and giving out medicines until the pupil
has grasped the subject and can be
trusted alone.
She will attend such clinics as require
patients from her ward or floor, and will
be held responsible for the condition of
all such. What tone she gives to her
floor will be reproduced even down to
the patients, and she will have to watch
herself carefully, to be sure that repro.
duction does her credit. In a large
hospital there are always many different
dispositions among the head nurses,
and this probationer is sent to one be-
cause she needs encouragement and
will get it. while another, fully able to
hold her own and rather inclined to be
aggressive. is sent to second, by whom
such undesirable trait will not be toler-
ated-and 80 it goes.
AS she herself has learned to obey i'm
plicitly. so she will command obedience,
and no matter how important the posi-.
tion she may eventually fill, che should
never forget the lesson and value of obe-
dience, nor become like Kipling's
heather:
- e don't obey no orders unless they