The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-14
NURSES OF LONDON.
Worked Hard in Their Training and
Get Very Little Remuneration.

QOndon Leader.)
A correspondent with personal eX-
perience Of the work of the Metropol-
itan asylums board writes that the
conditions of labor of nurses employed
by the board, which controls the va
riOus fever hospitals in the metropolis,
compare unfavorably with the aver
age conditions of domestic service.
The minimum age for nurses to en-
ter the various fever hospitals con-
trolled by the Metropolitan asyiums
board is %, and they must be natural
ly of good health, good character, and
possessed Of what would be termed a
very fair education, indeed. Previous
experience in nursing is unnecessary.
The remuneration for these nurses.
who are known as second assistants"
is $50 per annum, rising by annual
installmentS Of 81 to e23 They are
also provided with indoor uniform.
board and washing. Their hours of
duty are from Z a. m. to p. m, seven
days a week They are allowed one
clear day off per month, and they are
supposed to have twelve hours off per
week, and q church pass of four hours
on Sunday whenever the contingencies
of the hospital permit. Every three
months they are required to serve on
i =
nights off in the month. Three weeks
holiday is also allowed to every nurse
annually.
After two. years service, if she proves
q good and intelligent nurse, studies
the technicalities of her profession, and
attends lectures, the second assist
ant" stands a chance of promotion to
the rank of first assistant" at d sal
airy of e24, rising to e2S. and receives
to fasten her cap behind her ears. The
hours, however, are precisely the same,
and the responsibility is very great,
as in the absence of the charge"
nurse. the first assistant" practically
I is held responsible for everything that
occurs in the ward, though in emergen-
cies she is supposed to call in the
charge nurse from the adjoining ward
The rank of first assistant is the
limit of promotion to the ordinary
nurse in the Metropolitan asylums
board fever hospitals. as the charge
nurses, who receive the magnificent
remuneration Of $50 per annum. rising
by annual installments of e1 to $40.
must possess a certificate showing
that they have satisfactorily passed a
period of three years training in a
general hospital with a recognized
training school for nurses" As a gen
eral rule, this is an impossible posi-
ton for poor women to attain, as in
most hospitals a premium and one
years free service is, required of can
didates who wish to become certified
nurses. CuriOusly enough charge
nurses have no extra privileges, and
have to work at making beds, etc,
like first assistants"
in some Of the fever hospitals, too,
complaints are very general concern
ing the cooking and the method of
serving the nurses meals, which to
say the least, appears to be primitive
in the extreme.
The arduOus nature Of the work to
which these nurses devote themselves
can hardly be described. The strain
on the nerves upon those who are re-
spOnsibie for a number of patients in
a high state of fever and delirium. es-
pecially in the dead of night, can hard
ly be imagined. The danger of infec-
ton. too, which those devoted women
are exposed to is very great. In one
fever hospital where 100 nurses are
employed no fewer than thirty We're
attacked in the past year with diph-
iberia. scarlet fever and other infec-
tiOus diseases contracted from the pa
tients they were nursing.