The Washington times., 1917-07-10
ASYLUM NURSES
FORCED TO WORK
"A HOURS A DAY
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Continued from First Page.)
holiday following. And then she Il
of "only II she can be spared"
At present the ward service Is IN
usually shorthanded. and annual va
cations are uncertain. Many OF the
nurses, after working for years at
the hospital. become discouraged and
leave. Some OF the nurses earn only
$50. f26, and $50 a month.
George L. Cain, president Of the
National League OF Government En-
ployes. says:
The resignation of ward service
employees Is causing the hospital to
work short-handed and to call on
female nurses to do the work assign
ed to male nurses when the service
Is complete or near complete"
The word workers, It is said.
amount to about 20 per cent OF the
hospital stan. and It Is In this ser
vice that the eight-hour day Is i'm
possible.
superintendent White asked Con-
gress for $s1.1Ts additional to rem
edy these conditions.
Could Increase Force.
The additional amount, he said
would enable the hospital to increase
its force by 120 persons and put In an
eight-hour day throughout the insti-
tuition. II Is especially necessary. DR.
White says. that employees directly
connected with the care OF patients
shall not become overworked and
nervous, because their task Is one re-
curing great patience and constant
application In defense OF the esti
mate. DR.. White said:
This estimate has not been pre-
scented before because the matter haa
been under investigation and study
and has not been In shape to formu-
late. For some years past all OF the
employees OF the hospital have been
working upon an eight-hour basic ex-
cept those who are directly engaged
in the care of patients. constituting
what Is known as the ward service
with certain other minor exceptions
Naturally. these employees feel tnat in
the operation of the statutes they
have been Disseminated against, and
the hospital cannot but feel that the
concessions that have been granted
have been In the least desirable d.
rection when the nature Of the work
which the hospital stands for is con.
sidered. In other words, the most i'm
portant function which the hospital
subserves is the Immediate care OF
the individual sick patient
Increases Efficiency.
'All the other functions which are
performed by these several employees
are subsidiary to this central one. 1t
would seem, therefore, that every
concession should be made to the
ward employees that will make for In
creased efficiency Observations
which have been recently made with
regard to the operation OF the eight
hour law would indicate that Il does
increase efficiency. through its bene-
fetal influence upon the employee HIM
self, preventing conditions OF over
fatigue, and therefore bringing him
into his work better able to do it.
These advantages are OF course of
great moment in dealing with the
problems which confront an institu-
ton of this character.
lit is highly important that the
ward attendants should go on duty
refreshed and rested, so that during
lneir period OF duty they may be free
from all such tendencies that might
express themselves in irritability and
crossness toward the patient. In fact,
I think there Is very little doubt but
that many of the difficulties which
arise and result in minor abuses of
patients by employees are dependent
upon the employe being tired and ir-
ritable. 1t is for these reasons that
this estimate is presented for the ex-
tension OF the eight-hour law to the
ward employees and to certain other
classes not yet covered in its opera
ton"