Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-04-28
What Shall | Do With My Daughter?
Nv. THE SOCIAL WELFARE NURSE

the social service departments of hos
pitals.
A great change has taken place in
the attitude of the hospital towards
the patient. The hospital of today is
striving not only TO cure the sick and
restore the injured 70 health, but TO
prevent sickness and to save those who
have been i'll from a recurrence of
their disease.
To this end the social service depart
ment has been established and it has
become a very important branch of hos
pital management, because it is an
economic as well as a humane institu-
Ition. Ii not only saves the lives and
eonserves the strength and health of
patients after they have been diseharg-
ed, but it tends to prevent their re-
turning TO the hospital and being a
charge upon it. At the same time it ex-
ereises health control over the home
and members of the patients S family.
While positions in this department
are open to trained social workers, the
socially trained graduate nurse is bet
ter equipped in every way to deal with
health problems which form the basis
of the after care of patients. She un-
derstands what they need in the way
of rest and care and diet. She has been
made familiar with their conditions
while they were in the hospital, and
she better understands how long the
term of convalescenee ought to be.
The social welfare nurse must be able
to cope with all sorts of social and eco
nomic conditions, and she must know
how to employ all the resources of the
community in behalf of her charge. II
she is employed by general hospital
her cases vary, and she has all sorts
and conditions of needs to meet. 1T she
is employed by baby hospital hei
chief care is for the baby and its moth
er, though she cannot properly look at
ter one or two members of the family
without supervising all of the others
i Hospitals for the insane are now EN-
lploying after care nurses to visit pa
tients who have been put on parole, an(
who must be closely watched for re
turn of the symptoms Of their disor
:. der.
Tuberculosis dispensaries and clinic
employ regularly a staff of visiting
nurses whose work is even more import
ant than that of the physicians. The.
lact as guardians of the health of mem
+ bers of the patients family, and Sc
to it that infection is not spread. The
keep an eternally vigilant eye upon tn
lpatients. They see that they have en-
ployment, if they are able to work, an
that it is of suitable nature. They il
sure proper diet and they incessantl
lpreach caution. They are constantly 0
I the lookout for any signs of breal
down in any other member of the fam
/lly, especially among the children. |
this way the welfare nurse becomes
, guardian of the public health, and
! really one of the chief safeguards ii
, community has against the spread
disease.
81 DR.. James Alexander Miller, direc
or of the tuberculosis Clinic of Bell
vue Hospital, New York, says thi
physicians are utterly dependent upt
. graduate nurses fer that part of the
- work which involves social service.
r summing up the qualifications for Il
"a social welfare nurse he says:
y "The experience which comes fro
!. familiarity with the sick, the disci
line of regular hospital work, the e,
a trained to observe, the hand to a
quickly and skilfully, are esential
n the highest kind of service among Il
i sick poor, but nevertheless it is n
NJ every good nurse who is fitted for tn
"a work. The nursing qualifications mu
"a be combined with the purely woman
m ones. This work might be turly chara
n terized as a mission of friendship, +
- in