Evening star., 1945-02-02
House Hearings
On Nurses Will
Reopen Tuesday
VINO CIussifies
rs, 900 Qualified
For Miiitory Duty
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

Hearings before the House Mill
tary Affairs Committee on legislation
to draft nurses for the armed forces
will be resumed at 10 am. Tuesday
Chairman May announced today.
The hearings were started week
before last, but were sidetracked to
make way for the limited national
service bill which passed the House
yesterday. Maj. Gen. Norman T.
Kirk, Army Surgeon General, told
the committee of the urgent need for
$4,000 additional nurses. Other wit
nesses from the Army and Navy
from nursing organizations are to
be heard next week.
1t was disclosed, meanwhile. that
the War ManpoWer Commission has
classified more than $4,000 nurses as
qualified for military service and not
holding essential civilian jobs This
list admittedly is far from complete
since no national registry of grad
uate nurses is available.
With the Navy seeking 1000
nurses at once, the total figure held
essential to the armed forces is about
25 900.
List $4,000.
VINO lists about $4,000 registered
nurses as under As and potentially
qualified for military service. But
about half of these are held to be in
necessary posts. Something like one
third stationed in hospitals are
listed as making up a quota above
the number considered necessary to
maintain these institutions. The
other "nonessentiap' nurses are in
private duty or at clinics.
The whole trend of the complex
and confusing nursing picture makes
a draft of nurses under a selective
service plan the only solution for the
emergency, in the opinion of most
officials concerned.
The Army needs at least 1900
more nurses Immediately, and the
urgency of the problem has been in
creased by the Nays demand for
1000 nurses at once. The Navy,
which was believed to need COM
paratively few, must have the
1000 Ito assure every man in the
Navy OF adequate care" said a cur
rent announcement.
Registration Lacking.
Admittedly, in the absence of any
complete national registration of
nurses, even those opposing draft
legislation concede that legislation
requiring such a list would be most
helpful as start toward meeting
the critical situation.
Some have urged the armed serv-
ices to relax their standards to an
extent, pointing out that many
nurses who would be acceptable in
hospitals or private duty are re-
jec' ed on educational grounds. While
it is realized the physical standards
must be maintained. because of the
arduous service that may be re-
quired Of military nurses, complaint
has come from the nursing profess
sion that the Army and Navy insist
on too rigid training background.
The States vary in their require
ments for registered nurses. One
State is reported to have only 3 out
of 33 nursing schools which are &C
credited by the Army and Navy.
Must Know Work.
Thus far there has been no indi-
cation that the armed forces would
lower the education standards.
Medical officers point out that, while
hospitals, under adequate super
vision, can absorb nurses with
sketchier training than they require,
military and naval nurses often
must work on their own responsible
ity. They must know what to do,
when and how to do it.
Opposition to a law drafting
nurses until the volunteer pro-
gram has been proved failure"
was announced by the National Leg
lslatlve Committee of the Veterans
of Foreign Wars. The committee
headed by R. K. Christenberry of
New York, recognized the urgent
need for nurses, but held it would be
unfair to call into service "one seq
ment of American womanhood, ="
while others are excluded. If, how
ever. sufficient nurses refuse to VOL
unteer, the committee indicated, it
may support draft legislation.