Daily Kennebec journal., 1921-09-27
WHAT The NURSES DEMAND

VITA n = M no < - Z MI AMI
4 subscriber inquiries: Did you
know that trained nurses in Angus
ia have gone up from SIS to $35
week and now insist that two nurses
be on every case, and that expert
enced nurses have gone up from SO
to SIS a week
The subscriber encloses the report
of an interview published in the Pic
torial Review for October with DR..
Charles H. Mayo of the famous Mayo
CLINIC at Rochester, Mimi. in which
he charges that the leaders of or
garized nursing have carried their
methods too far and With too high
hand. and in doing this have de-
feated their purpose, for they have
lost sight Of the real impulse Of
their profession-tha alienation of
the pain Of the world. Ministration
to the sick and dying can not be
bound by hard -and-fast laws. They
are the divine right of the poor as
well as the rich. A prohibitive price
can not be put upon them. And that
is what the nurses are doing. Too
great a commercialization Of their
services is making proper care Of the
sick impossible for those in moder-
ate circumstances. In addition. their
demands as TO hours and regulations
can not be met in hospitals if the
hospitals are to maintain their high
standards OF service 7 understand
that in some hospitals the nurses
have even resorted to strikes. This
is shocking indictment Of the pro-
fession, and I can not believe that
the nurses involved were heartily in
sympathy with them. They must
lave been nisled by the agitation of
one or two malcortents and incom-
pctents. Suppos.ng that doctors
should go on strike The thought is
no less appalling than a nurses
strike. Therefore with the union be-
coming a menace it is time for the
public to cooperate against it.
The educational standards for
registration Of nurses az set down by
the nursing boards of the various
states have gone beyond all reason.
Any intelligent girl can acquire in
two years all the knowledge neces-
s1ry for the thoroughly competent
nurse. l know that in my work l
never have to ask any nurse to do
ANYTHING which she could not have
learted how to do in two years
training. But as the laws Of most
states demand high school pre-edu-
cation and three years training for
the registered nurse, the only way to
circuinvent them is by training sub
nurses or nursing aids who will ac-
cept smaller pay. whose demands are
not so eXacting. and who will be
proficient enough to take hold Of al
most any case presented to them.
Seven dollars a day for an eight
hour day is more than eXorbitant: if
IS prohibitive. 1t means that in cases
OF dangerous disease where constant
Sklltul care and watching are neces-
sarN to save the life Of the patients.
three nurses must be employed at
daily cost Of twenty dollars
day. How. ask. can the man and
woman OF average means afford to
pay such charges They can not do
It. Neither can the hospitals if they
wish to keep open their doors
Good nurses are born. They are
not made, any more than good stem
ographers or good writer's or good
lawyers are made Education helps.
but If a sirl has all the education in
the world and the best OF secretarial
training, and yet lacks manual dex-
terity and sound business sense. she
viii not make a good stenogranher.