Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-26
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Coming Of The sssqul.csntsnnlal
May Help the establishment Of
Proposed Central School for
Flrst.Y Year Nurses
BY SARAH d. LowRIE

I WHOTE something concerning my nnd.
L ings on. the general subject Of trained
nurses 1,,1 and the training Of nurses % som some
and because Sf what ! had written, no
doubt. much Information from the nurs-
ing profession has been sent me. The
information that has been sent to me was
School for First Year Nurses, which I had
touched upon. and which the Southeastern
Council Of Nursing Education has placed
before the hospitals Of this city with rec
ommendation that It be adopted.
! remember saying that such school was
generosity Of the nurses from the various
hospitals, who gave their teaching services,
and to the accommodations provided by the
Drexel Institute, the University Of Pennsyl.
vania and the Girls Normal School. There
were last year ten hospitals that sent their
first year nurses to this experimental Centra!
School in which there was an enrolment Of
sixty six pupils. remember thinking as
! wrote that surprising bit Of information
for nurses to do--make n school, teach It
and support it for the first year in order to
prove that It was needed that 1t was popular
and that it would be practical.
TT STANDS to reason that one school doing
L the work of ffty-f schools-for there
are that many nurses training schools now
in Philadelphia-for the first year theoreti-
cal studies required Of nurses, would not
only save time and money and equipment
and service for each hospital. but It would
insure a higher standard for at least half
the hospitals, which cannot compete with
the large institutions In teaching facilities
or in TEACHERS.
am interested. too. in looking over some
Of the plans for this school to see that the
requirements for the nurses entering 1t are
raised rather than lowered, four years Of
high school or its equivalent being de-
manded ! also observe that eventually the
school Is designed to become a part of the
University Of Pennsylvania, SO that its grad
yates may have degree on taking "a five
college electives as we'll as hospital train
Ing. And I found also a suggestion that
for ordinary nursing as distinguished from
administrative nursing there should be
shorter course than is now permitted, the
idea being that better prepared students
would 60 into nursing and need less hospital
training, or rather be able to get more
training in less time, while those wishing to
educate themselves for executive positions in
hospitals and institutions, or as teachers,
could take the five-year course, which
would include certain college courses. Those
wishing ito do only private nursing or
organization nursing could have certificate
after "a full two years course.
In this way the public that needs nurses
would be supplied, and the nurses who need
u
short course, while those who wish to 20
farther and eventually higher would have en-
opportunity, not now provided, to broaden
and deepen their knowledge.
7 AM always struck in looking over such
plans as these by the exactness of the
calculations. Nothing is left to guesswork
and all the ieures prove themselves-the
! exact number of hours involved. the precise
cost Of each division Of labor, the prepara-
tlon for the time off for study. the expense
| involved in equipment. materials, rentals,
salaries, etc., the cost per hundred pupils
and the per term for each pupil. Then,
too, the provisions made for governing
committee. how 1t shall be appointed, how
organized and how 1t shall function. OF
plan were all women of great administrative
| ability. who are used to thinking scien-
tihcally about everything from epidemics to
cut fingers but still remembering the guess.
work INDUCED in by the Boards Of Directors
that must pass upon those plans am both
amused and amazed by their detailed finish.
The ordinary director may know how
| much he pays for coal n year without look.
ing in his checkbook, but that is as far as
he goes In exact knowledge of details of the
by clear columns of figures and it cheers him
up II in running his eye down them he can
| md something to pause on and doubt the
accuracy Of. He also likes to be told firmly
| III the eHu tHe proposed venture Will
save much money or time, but If he votes
for it, it is on other grounds than those
| which the figures prove so glibly before him
He will be for the plan because it appeals
to him, apart from the proving figures.
| which he takes with q mental reservation
| And that appeal is generally purely per.
| sonal appeal that cannot be quite calculated
IN scientific way or even stated accurately.
Which is why most scientific discoy.
cries have to be advertised by persons who
| do not actually understand their details.
| and only comprehend their effects in q large
picturesque. wholly unscentifc way.
| 60 ! SHALL not be surprised If this ad =
~ mirable and scientifically worked. OUT
plan OF the leaders among the nursing body
| of the city is eventually put over on the
hospital boards by men who grasp the tdea
and discard the line of reasoning IL, the
details Of the report In the end the hos.
pitfalls may fall in line because the-well,
because the Sesqui Centennial is coming,
and for no other reason bad or good.
Meanwhile the plan of the school is not
| new in all its particulars In the Middle
West some of the universities have added
nursing to their curriculum, just as many
universities East and West have added
| medicine.
And, indeed. girl who has had four
years of high school and two years of aca :
| demic studies in college, and two years of
nursing in hospitals. and one, year of spe-
l cializing on some department of nursing,
would be splendidly equipped for an admin, :,
istrativc career, and decidedly ahead of the
ordinary university graduate In experience
and in practical equipment for life.