The advocate., 1897-10-06
EAGER TO BECOME NURSES.

1AU1h III D4OOWu MUhOu0b
Although the qualities which contrib
ute to the development OF thoroughly
good hospital nurse do not exist in
extraVagant profusiOn, the number Of
young women who feel that they have
an especial adaptabillty in that direc-
tiOn is large enough to fill half Of the
hospitals in New York from cellar to
garret. With some young women the
mania to become a professional nurse
is apparently as strong as is the mania
to "gO on the stage" with others of their
sex. While this mania is not confined
to any particular social sphere, evil
dences Of 1t have Of late been more nu-
merous than usual among young women
in the higher walks of life.
Officers, physicians and head nurses
in the large public hospitals are con-
stantly being impOrtuned by applicants
for nurses positions. Not infrequently
girls in their teens ask to be allowed to
give their services gratuitOusly as help
ers in the sick wards, in order that they
may thus acquire the necessary knOwl-
edge and experience to equip them for
what they regard as their ordained mis-
sion in life. Most of the jealous anna
teur nurses speak Of their chosen call
ing as mission" whereat the practi-
cal, self-contained professional nurse
bids them 90 back to their novels or
their embroidery, and leave the task OF
nursing the sick to prOsaic women who
have no emotions, no nerves, and who
know what hard work really Is.
mot more than one woman In ten Is
fit to be a professional nurse" said a
matronly nurse Of many years expert
ence In one of the most noted hospitals
OF New York Few women have the
physical strength to enable them to
stand the hard work, and many Of those
who do possess physical strength are
fatally lacking in self-cOntrOl or those
qualities of temperament so essential
in dealing with the varying moods OF
invalids. A competent nurse must not
be nervous in any sense, nor can she
allow her emotions any play in the sick
room. Sympathetic she may be when
her patients condition requires 1t, but
she must never be too sympathetic. In
other words, nurse cannot ahord to
'sl0p over She cannot afford to show
weakness OF any kind. Such self-c0n-
troll as professional nurses are obliged to
exercise often makes them appear cold
blooded and Indifferent to the casual
observer The work that we have to
do daily is actually killing to women
OF nervous temperaments. We have
tried them here, and the best Of them did
not last moro than one month"
In spite Of the antipathy Of old pro-
fessiOnal nurses TO victims OF the nurse
mania, a great many young women OF
the latter class succeed in getting them
selves enrolled on the probationary list
OF hospital nurses, and some Of them
succeed in securing and retaining perma-
nent positions. Merit is the only aid to
success in this respect, however. No one
but an earnest and most determined
woman can pass through the proba-
tionary period OF hospital nurses ex-
perience without being cured OF all de-
sire to follow that calling. A profes-
sional nurses rudimentary course OF
instruction entails work that is not only
nenial and physically irksome, but
which Is In every way repugnant to
wOmaxl's flneP senSlbilitiea II 10 hoa-
rtfAl axiom thas * q novice can stand