Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-09
THE PROFESSIONAL NURSE.
Qualities That Make Good Attendant
Different Types.

From the London Chronicle.
The following observations from a clever
ly edited journal for women touch on a
question which is often discussed today
and will arouse memories in the minds of
many who have had personal experience Of
the ways of the. professional nurse in
homes darkeneds with the terrors of sick
ness and the shadow of DEATH
Great technical knowledge" SAYS the
Journal in question, will never provide a
substitute for subtle sympathy with ILL
ness, and some stop should be put to the
unrestricted rush Of ill-suited girls to the
nursing profession. The lady who
trains is more to the manner born. for she
feels instinctively the little shrinking points
that nurse from a lower rank can never
understand and is sure to ignore, moreover
as the fidgits, pure and simple
While there Is much truth In these sem
fences. there Is also error. The Subtle
sympathy with Illness is a quality that is
not confined to the lady nurse. 1t Is a
characteristic of the warm-hearted noble
minded woman, whether she be gentlewo-
man, or having her place In the humber
walks of life. There are many ito the man
ner born" whose natures are entirely devoid
of sympathy Of any kind, for good birth and
breeding do not always mean a noble ma
ture. There are rough, loud-voiced, grimy-
handed coster girls who possess womanly
qualities of heart and head that many a
duchess lacks! So it is plain that the nurse
should be chosengfer her sympathetic quail
tiles, lady not.
Ali the hospital training in the world
will not give sympathy to the unsympa-
thetic soft touch of hand or gentle tread
to the impatient of mind, soothing tone
Of voice to the irritable tempered The
good, efficient hospital nurse is-to be trite
born. not made, and If some examination
for proba could be invented that
would reveal the temperament and the men,
tai qualities of the candidate, the way out
of present difficulties would be palmer.
l have known several types of hospital
nurses personally and intimately. and the
memory of them, 1 must confess, brings
a little bewilderment to my mind as up
setting all sorts of theories. There was
one of good birth and irreproachable breed
ing She was very charming to deal with,
for she never made a false step. Moreover,
she was very capable nurse. But-a more
cold hearted girl. Of utter aloofness Of atti-
tude and entire disdain for any kind Of
sentiment, psnever met. She nursed her
patient carefully back to health but the
latter, a girioof twenty, once said. ruefully,
during weary convaleseence: II am NOR
maid) might put on poultices more clumsily,
but declare she does 1t more sympathetic
allyn SCI
Then there was another type-Nurse N.
She was frosy-cheeked, buxom young
woman of excellento education. but lowly
origin. She openly confessed herself inca
pable OF feeling sympathy. and said 1t was
.'unprofessional to show your feelings"
But she was IEeHeHuOuSly CONSCIENTIOUS:
and so, when--as she said-she found pa
tient worrying and fretting for the lack of
expressed sympathy, she would deliberately
feign it. and would take endless pains to
prove to the weary sufferer that she was
truly sorry" The result was very salts
factory, for never knew girl more popu-
lar with her patients than Nurse N!
One further type may prove interesting
to quote That was Nurse J. Her reputa-
ton for nursing the most complicated and
terrible surgical cases In her hospital had
ben really wonderful, but her failure as
a private nurse was entire. She was inya-
riably returned at the end of day or two
by her employers. who begged the matron
to send them "some one kinder" She
nursed (for one day9 a friend OF mine, who
was suffering the awful pain of cancer,
and / was told that her callous though
skillful ways of handling painful dressings.
made the poor patient plead earnestly for
another nurse There is no doubt about it
the attendants on sickness and suffering
need specially gracious mind. and gentle
temperament.