Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-27
Great Changes Have Taken
Place Of Late Years. j.
WOMEN NOW WANTED
WHAT THEIR DUTIES WOULD BE
ON SHORE AND SEA.
Position Of Hospital Apprentice Of
fers Many Inducements to
Young Men.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Not many years back the sickbaymen Of
our men-of-war were recruited from those
of the enlisted force that had shown uni
form incapacity in every other line OF use
fulness aboard ship. To such was then
given the responsible task Of watching over
and tending the sick Of the craft after the
doctor had prescribed and the apothecary
had meted out the doses. It is not Of rec
ord whether it was the pharmacists unpal-
atable boluses or the so-called baymen's
bungling, but the fact remains that many
a sick man fought shy of the sick list who
should have been under medical supervision
long before his own delay led to aggrava-
ton and really serious consequences.
In 1898 Congress provided for hospital
corps. but it has been only within the past
year that it has been possible to whip these
men into anything like efficient shape, and
it will be year more before the corps, as
body, will be equal to the diversified de-
mands of their calling. These men, when
enlisting, as most of them do, as hospital
apprentices, are absolutely without profess
sional training of any sort. and heretofore
it has been left largely to the initiative and
the judgment Of the resident hospital chief
how the men should be trained. The med
ical officer in charge of the naval hospital
at Norfolk. Va, began a systematic educa-
ton of the men Of the corps assigned to his
jurisdiction, and as a result thirty-eight Of
them have recently been graduated after a
field work. They will now be assigned to
the various hospitals for training in nurs-
ing, and later, when the exigencies Of the
service permit, they will be instructed in
the refinements of diet preparation, ban
daging, elementary medication and the ru-
diments of hygiene.
Trained Women Nurses.
To supplement this partly trained force
and to put our naval hospitals upon basis
comparable with the management of mil
itary and civilian institutions, the Navy
Department, at the instance Of Surgeon
General Rixey, has prepared a bill for the
creation Of naval corps of trained women
nurses. This bill will in all likelihood be-
come law during the present session of
Congress.
The army now employs more than hun
dred women nurses, and the records of their
usefulness are monuments enough to their
tender, Intelligent ministration to the serv-
ice sick. While not employed in an official
capacity. Surgeon General Rixey has not
hesitated to secure the services of trained
women nurses for the care of peculiarly
serious cases, and the wisdom of his action
has been amply proved. The proposition
now to employ such trained women perma-
nently is based. therefore, upon practical
experience on the part of the bureau of
medicine and surgery.
Superintendent in Charge.
The bill just introduced in Congress pro-
vides for one superintendent woman nurse,
who shall be appointed by the Secretary of
the Navy only after her recommendations
have satisfied the surgeon general. She
will receive 81 800 a year. Upon her will
rest Immediately the direction, organiza-
ton and discipline of the corps of women
nurses, and upon her will rest the selec-
ton of nurses, because of peculiar personal
fitness for special cases. The systematic
ing of all routine professional work will
also come under her official cognizance. She
will be, in all probability, permanently To-
Gated at the naval hospital in Washington,
and subject to the direction of the surgeon
general.
Of the corps work each naval hospital will
have its chief woman nurse, and subject to
each woman nurse there will be enough
subordinate women nurses to carry out the
work of nursing at the four principal naval
hospitals on the Atlantic coast and the sin
gle one at Mare Island, Cal.
Subordinate Nurses.
The present bill contemplates corps of
fifty subordinate nurses, and the establish
ment of a reserve force additional, from
which permanent appointments will be
made as the exigencies of the service de-
mand. These women nurses must be citi-
zens of the United States, and they be
deemed qualified only after such examina-
Appointments shall be for three years, sub
ject to discharge for cause, and for each
reappointment they shall receive an in
crease Of per cent in their pay. All nurses
so appointed shall be eligible for duty at
naval hospitals and on board hospital and
ambulance ships, and for such other spe-
cfal duty deemed necessary by the surgeon
general Nurses are to receive, upon first
appointment, $40 month when employed
within the continental limits of the United