Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-30
FIELD OF NURSING OFFERS
CHANCE FOR RIGHT TYPE
Overproduction in Profession Blamed
on Those Who Lack Proper
Background or Training.

Simmons college, Boston, VINO received
their B. S. degree this year. Johns
Hopkins has just recently announced
that it also will offer a combined
course leading to degree.
In addition to the schools for pupil
nurses, an increasing number of
courses are being offered to graduate
nurses. These are designed to prepare
them for specialization. Fourteen COL
leges and universities offer courses in
teaching and administration. Sixteen
offer courses in public health nursing.
At Harvard there is a special course
in muscle training offered to nurses
who wish to specialize in orthopedics.
Psychiatry is one of the newest,
most interesting and rapidly develop
ing fields Various hospitals are now
offering psychiatric courses to gradu-
ate nurses. Among them are Butler,
in Providence, r. l.; Bloomingdale, in
White Plains, N. Y, the State hos
pitfalls in Washington, Illinois, New
York and Pennsylvania.
There are many demands for nurses
with pSychiatric training.
Ingenuity Helps.
Sometimes nurse needs ingenuity.
Often she must sell herself. This was
the case with particularly able nurse
who was sent to particularly diff
ficult man. wealthy, retired, and so
uninterested in Living that he had
refused to leave his bed for the past
Is months. He also refused the serv-
ices of every nurse who was sent to
him, until this thoughtful woman
made it her bus.n to find out
everything she could about him be-
fore she saw him. She learned that
his most recent hobby had been bees
and flowers.
The nurse was quick to realize that
this man would also be interested in
birds. She had seen an unusual one
and she described it to Der obstreper-
GUS future patient and asked him if
he could tell her what it was. To the
establishment of every one the man got
| out of bed went to the bookcase,
found particular volume he wanted,
and tracked down the name of the
bird. To-day the man is down South,
raising flowers.
Though psychiatry is a dramatic
and interesting speciality, it is far
from being the only one. The ram
ifications of nursing service are as
various as those of medicine Nurses
specialize in pediatric nursing, sur
gical nursing, maternity nursing and
numerous other particular aspects.
! Besides private-duty nursing, there
are administrative possibilities, as
deans or directors of schools of nurs-
ing, as assistants to the deans, as in
structorS of special subjects and fac
ulty members who combine admins
trative with teaching duties
In the hospital itself the position of
superintendent or assistant superin-
tendent is often filled by an expert
enced graduate nurse. Nurses also
hold posts as heads of hospital de-
partments or wards.
Social Aid Aspect
In this modern period with its en-
phasis on community welfare. public
health nursing has gone ahead by
leaps and bounds. 1t is a suitable
field for civic minded women with
nursing training.
In rural communities the public
health nurse does a pioneer Job. She
is usually the only person so equipped
in her territory and must organize
as well as direct and do the prac-
tical work. In communities where
| there is a staff of public health
nurses, each will serve her appren-
| ticeship in working directly with in
| dlviduals and their families.
From this personal service there is
the opportunity to advance to the
position of supervisor for a special
geographical area or a special type of
service. There are also openings for
educational directors and for directors
and assistant directors Of visiting
nurse associations, public health nurs-
ing bureaus in departments of health.
and school nursing services under
boards of education.
In this branch of nursing there are
far too few equipped for the work
waiting to be done The American
Public Health Association has esti-
mated that if all the community needs
for public health nursing were met
there would be 10000 such nurses in
the field, whereas there are only 20, 900
thus employed today.