Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-03-23
physicians diagnosis. He sees the pa.


tically all the time. She can record the
progress Of the disease by the flight Of
minutes. He can only study II by the
morning and the evening call. The
value OF the intelligent nurse Is to be
found in what she sees, as well as In
what she is willing to do; her useful
ness is to be enhanced by what she
can tell, as well as by her willingness
TO obey orders.
Fallacy Exploded.
cit is high time," Florence Nightn-
gale once wrote, that the fallacy
should be exploded that every woman
is able to become q competent nurse"
II is high time that the standard of our
training schools for nurses should be
raised, that unworthy institutions
should be crushed out and that the
question of a trained nurses efficiency
should not be decided by her ability to
buy a Bingham dress and TO read
thermometer. 1t is high time that the
state legislatures should place laws up
on the statute books so that the gradu-
ates of these different institutions
should be compelled to pass examina-
tons for licensure, as the doctor, the
pharmacist, the lawyer or the locomo-
tive engineer is compelled to do. In
competent nursing has involved the
loss Of many a life and caused many
an agonizing pain. Some time ago
dear friend of mine, a brother minis
ter. had his little fve-year-old son near
ly burned to death. The only way to
save the childs life was by grating
human skin upon the little ones stom-
ach and chest. The father and the
child's two brothers volunteered to let
the doctor peel the skin from their bod
les to save the baby's life. After one
of the brothers-a noble lad about ten
years of age-had had the skin cut off
his arms and shoulders and chest the
surgeon turned to the nurse and said,
Nurse, where did you get that knife"
"Out of the alcohol" she answered.
did you then place the blade in sterile
water before you gave it to me" mo"
she answered; 81 did not know you
| wanted me to do it, Then" said the
surgeon, 1--WE have cut all the skin off
from this boys body for nothing. Your
criminal ignorance is to blame for this
useless suffering. You should have
known enough to place that knife i'll
sterile water. You profess TO be
trained surgical nurse and a graduate
of a nurses college"
Thus, you women about to become
trained nurses, it is of vital impor-
lance that you are intelligent and eff
cient. 1t is of vital Importance that
you should know the value of fresh air
and of proper dietetics. 1t is of vital
importance that you obey the laws Of
cleanliness and not allow your patient
to become infected. The ignorance Of
incompetent nurses has sent many a
patient to the grave. If you volunta-
rily enter your noble profession intel
lectually unqualified, you are commit
ting sin against the human race just
as surely as is the ignorant switchman
who throws open the wrong switch
and sends the passenger train crashing
into the freight train which has been
sidetracked. Il did not know" in the
sickroom is about as criminal as 81 did
not think" or Il forgot" In this age
of fine training schools for nurses it Is
just as much every nurses business to
learn how to think right as it is to
learn how to do right.
Cure Soul and Body.
The ideal nurse should be Christian
woman. During the dark night, whel
the black winged death angel is hover
ing, wing and wing, beside the white
winged birth angel. or when in the
crisis of pneumonia or typhoid the lif,
seems to be hanging by slender
thread. no intelligent nurse is so com
petent to bend over the bed as the on,
who believes in God and prayer ant
the one who can ask for the divin
cine or places the ice bag on the fe
vered brow. A great deal of Florenc
Nightingale's power over her patient
was due to the fact that she could tel
the physically helpless and the dyin
about the Good Physician, who wa
able to cure the sufferers soul as we
as his body. The Crimean soldiers ha
a better chance for getting we'll in thi
|, world when Florence Nightingale
mere presence made these rough me
: stop their swearing and influence
: many of them to turn their lips towar
T heaven with beseeching prayer. W
r know that one of the beneficent task
of a nurse is to inspire patients wit
: peace Of mind and of heart. There
e fore. is not the ideal nurse doubly fitte
t for her work when she can impart I
r the sufferers soul knowledge of I'll
o peace that passeth understanding?
s Was that nurses practical usefu
d ness marred by her faith In God. abol
whom DR.. Banks relates this thrillin
!, incident? During one of the blood
t battles of the civil war a wounde
o youth was carried into the field no
o pital. He tossed upon his cot cryir
t and moaning: do not let me die! o
e ann afraid to die! oh. am afraid