New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-12
Your Daughters Vocation
Trained Nurses Most Carefully Protected OF
Women Workers and Among the Best Paid.
BY Mary Marshall.

With these three requTements-gen
education. health and good home training
your daughter is ready to place her name
on the waiting list Of the hospital she has
chosen There is a word to say right here
about the choice of the hospital: AS a
usual thing, the large city hospitals are the
most thorough in training and consequently
their graduates are more likely 10 make
successful nurses. However, If you prefer
to have your daughter near you. and you
are not in the vicinity of a large hospital,
let her take two years training In one
of the smaller hospitals and wind up with
six months post graduate course in one
of the famous city institutions. The best
person TO go TO for advice in choosing the
hospital for your daughters training is an
experienced physician. for beyond doubt
1t is the hospital of high professional stand
ing that you want for your daughters alma
mater.
Once having had her application accepted
by a hospital. your daughter must be in
readiness to start Immediately. or when the
next probationary vacancy occurs. She will
be told by the authorities exactly what to
bring with her. Usually this list includes
two plain dresses of mixed gingham of the
color worn by the probationers, nine large
white aprons two laundry bags a large
supply of plain underclothing and suitable
outer clothes for all kinds of weather. After
a period OF from two TO six months proba-
ton the student puts on the hospital uni
form. which is supplied free of charge.
This question Of probation sometimes
stands out like a bugaboo in the dark to
young nurses, but. in the words of one OF
the superintendent in a big hospital
Granted that girl is intelligent and
healthy enough to be admitted to hospi-
tai, there are only two things that will
make her fail. One is unwillingness to give
up frivolity-for dances. late nights and So
ciety can never go hand in hand with nurs-
ing-and the other is the Crouch The
girl who grumbles and complains can't be
put out of hospital too soon."
The course in the hospital usually covers
from two to three years, the larger city
hospitals usually giving the longer train
ing. Many of the city hospitals give post
graduate courses of about six months.
where young women trained in small hos
pitfalls have the opportunity of getting spe-
cial training, watching the work of the
most famous medical and surgical special
lists, or of studying in the diet kitchens or
in the department OF administration.
The openings for the trained nurse were
never before more varied and alluring than
now She may take a place in her own
alma mater as head nurse In a ward with
a year-round salary Of so or $50 month
and remember that, In addition, practically
all her expenses are paid. Such an open
ing leads 10 the position of superintendent
Of nurses. sometimes paying as much as
g 900 year.
If she feels so inclined the young nurse
can go straight from her hospital into
private nursing, with its wealth of pos
sibilities for helpfulness and delightful
companonship, and a salary of SO
week, or $50 in some lines of work, while
on duty, or she can take position In
doctors office with specified hours at a
salary often of $125 a month. Infirmaries
in schools and colleges offer to women with
unusual personality very congenial en-
ployment at from 5000 to $1,000 a year. be-
sides board and lodging. District nursing
either in settlement houses or under some
other benevolent association offers a rare
field OF work. me hours being from 10
The social work now done in most of
the large hospitals by graduate trained
nurses calls for no actual nursing, out
demands a good deal of devotedness, tact
and intelligence 1t is the duty of the
nurse holding such a position to keep
in touch with the patients in the wards
and to follow them up in their homes after
they have been dismissed to make sure
hot h..
is not undone by squalor, negligence or
overwork. This line Of work. with pro-
visions for board and lodging, usually as
sures s75 month.
Perhaps the best salaries received by
trained nurses lie in the direction of pri-
vate nursing. for although the standard
wage is seldom over S25 or $50 a week.
hundreds Of nurses, owing to rare per
sonality as well as skill in nursing. make
their services worth many times this
figure One young woman who received
her diploma five years ago is employed
10y wealthy woman to care for the edu-
cation and health Of a delicate child This
young woman. in addition to the advantage
OF delightful surroundings and travel, re-
coives a salary of 5000 year.
Another woman who began as a nurse
and who now receives a salary of 81. OOG
n year is what YOU might call the al
moner' of very wealthy woman I'm
this position she not only has to use her
judgment in dispensing large sums of
money every year but she has to act as
proxy fer her employer on the board
meetings OF the various benevolent asso-
cations Of which the latter is a benefactor.
To he sure. high wages are rare. and
depend somewhat on good luck as well
as on ability, but the nurses profession
Is surely the most uniformly well paid
profession on the list for women.
Copyright. 1911. b. Mary Marshall)