The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-09-22
The Price or Nursing

DR.. Charles H. Mayo of the famous
Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota
saws "the nursing union has come to be
the most autocratic closed shop III
the country"
In an authorized interview in the
Pictorial Review for October, in when
he calls for 100 600 subnurses to re-
ueye the acute shortage, Dr. Mayo
charges that the leaders OF organized
nursing nave carried the + methods
foo far and with too high a hand ana
in doing this have defeated their own
purpose for they have lost sgnt oil the
real impulse of their profession-the
alienation OF the pain OF the World
Nlinis.rat on to the sick and the dying
can not be bound by hard and-fast
laws They are the divine right oi the
roor as we'll as the rich A prohlbitVe
price can not be put upon them ana
NAT Is what the nurses are doing TOO
great a commercializat on oil their
services is making proper care Oh the
esck impossible for those in moder'
ote circumstances. In addition. theT
demands as TO hours and regulations
can not be met in hospitals OF the
boqpitals are to maintain their hlsn
standards of service | understand
that in some hospitals the nurses nave
even resorted. to strikes. rms IS
checking indictment of the profession
and can not believe that the nurses
'.,,.olvod we're heartily In sympathy
with them. They must have peeu
misled by the agitation of one OF tWo
malcontents and ncompeten's. sup
nosiue that doctors should go Wv
strike' TIC Thought is no less appa''
limo than nurses strike! Therefore
Win the union becoming a menace
if is time lor the pubic to cooperate
against it. ,,.ds Cor
registration OF nurses as set down d.
the nursing boards of the various
states have gone beyond all reason
ANY intelligent girl can acquire III
two wears all the knowledge necessary
for the thoroughly competent hurst
I know that in my work ! never nav
to ask any nurse to do anything Wh'Cn
che could not have learned how 10 40
- 60 tno vears training. But as the
laws of most States demand hisn
hoo, nre.education and three year
training for the registered nurse tue m
onlv way to cercumcent them Is pS
training sub nurses or nursing "'u'
v.ho win accept smaller pay VINO ue'
,ards are not so axcting, and VINO
viii he proficient enough to take hu'u
of almost any case presented to them'
Seven dollars a day for an e'sn.
hour day is more than eXorbltahl' "
ie nrohibitive. 1t means that in cases
of dangerous disease where constant
srilml care and watching are neces'
sarv to save the life of the pat'ehts'
three nurses must be employed at
daily cost of tweutyone dollars DAY.
Wow. ask can the man and woman OF
average means afford to pay sueh
charges? They can not do it Nelther
can the hospitals If they wish TO Keep
open their doors.
Good nurses are born. They are not
made, any more than good stenogra'
pliers or good writer's or good lawyers
are maze. Education helps but II a
girl has al the education nthe world
and the best OF secrctarial training,
and vet lacks manual dexterty and
sound business sense she Will not
make good stenographer. All the
training IN the world will not make a
good nurse of girl who is always
thinking about herself and who2e
, heart does not so out toward suffering
humanity in desire to ease that
paiu by self.sacrifcing service, -
Pictorial Review.