The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-08-22

Steadily rising standards in the nursing care of the sick in Con- necticut are anticipated as pros- perity returns. The committee on the Grading of Nursing schools, @
 national body now concluding its
 seventh and final year of study.
 has conducted survey of 1.400
 schools of nursing in the United
 States, twenty of which are in Con- nccticut.
 Even during the period of sever- est depression, Connecticut nurs- ing schools have made many ad- vances in the educational require
 ments of student and graduate nurses, the grading committee re- ports to Winifred A. Hart, R. N, of
 Bridgeport, secretary of the state board of nurse examiners.
 How Connecticut schools of nurs- l ing compare with schools in the other states and in the nation as a
 whole is indicated in the figures
 supplied Mrs Hart. Statistics were gathered in 1929 and again in 1882. During that three year per- iod, surprising progress was made, but practically all nursing schools in the United States have a long
 road to travel before they attain the goals set for them by the grad ing committee, it is said.
 The Connecticut State Nurses
 Association, of which Sarah E..
 Hyde, R. N., of Cobalt is president and Margaret K. Stack, R. N.. 175
 Broad street. Hartford. Is execu- tive secretary, has been a financial | to nation.
 wide survey of nursing education and nursing service, through its afiliation with the American The following hospital nursing
 schools in the state were interested: enough in improving their stand
 ards to furnish the detailed re- cords required by the grading com mittee: Bridgeport and St Vim cents hospitals, Bridgeport; Bris- i tol Hospital;. Danbury Hospital: I Griffin Hospital, Derby; Greenwich Hospital; Mt Sinai and St Francis Hospitals, Hartford; Meriden Hos pital; Connecticut State and Mid dlesex hospitals, Middletown; New
 Britain General Hospital: Grace and aYlc University Hospitals ana the Hospital of St Raphael. New
 Haven; Lawrence and Memorial Association Hospital. New London; ; Norwalk General Hospital; Will liam w .Backus Hospital. NorWicn;
 and St Mary's and Waterpury Hospitals, Waterbury.
 Since 1929 the admission stand | ards for students entering nurses! training have risen in the state. S6 per cent of the students being high school graduates at the time | of the grading committees latest | study, Connecticut still lags slight | ly behind the nation in this re. spect, as in the country as whole 90 per cent of the students in ac- credited schools of nursing are high school graduates. High school graduation in itse,f | is not sufficient, nursing leaders now maintain. The national nurses asso ociations and the grading com- mittee urge schools to admit only
 those whose standing while In | high school was above the general
 average. In Connecticut, 56 per cent of the student nurses enjoy
 this distinction.
 It Is hard to conceive of an edu- cational institution without q sim
 gle full-time instructor. yet that is the condition now prevailing in one quarter of the nursing schools in l the United States, the grading committee finds. In the other schools instruction is given by nurses who must also help run the nursing service of the hospital. In Connecticut, 95 per cent of the
 schools have one or more full-time nurse instructors. The situation Is improving in nearly every state. 1t | is said, and even during the depres-
 sion years, when money for addi- tional salaries was scarce, the number of regular full-time in
 structors has increased. So far only 27 per cent of these instruc-
 tors have finished college, but 1t Is
 hoped that in the near future col-
 lege graduation will be a requirc-
 ment for all teaching positions in nursing.
 How do Connecticut hospitals protect the health of the students
 they train? An annual physical rauorfad az hntnU afvan afrnnu