Milford chronicle., 1954-09-03

has increased out of all proportion
to the increase in hospital beds, the
number of fields in which nurses
are engaged increases as more and
more people use hospital treat
ment and seek nursing care in
their homes, in industry and so on.
The patient is changing also. He
is increasingly interested in his
condition, cure and care, and hap
PLY there is much less unquestiOn-
ing compliance and a more active
cooperation in treatment because
of his knowledge.
Due to these changes. therefore.
the nurse must become a more in
terested listener and thus be able
in less tangible ways to help, es-
pecially the need for reinsurance
Of the well advised patient.
Nurses are admirably situated to
teach and practice mental hygiene
which means improved mental
health with the consequent in
crease of total health. 1t is distinct
" the mission of the nurse to help
to despair the fear and the ankle
ties which harass people in this
age of uncertainty.
The average stay of each individ-
ual patient in the hospital is short
er, which means that nurses must
work harder and concentrate more
on getting to know their patients,
so as to bring them the care, the
announcement and the consolation
they need.
Early ambulatiOn and shOrt-stay
disqualification require nurses to
be better trained, more alert and
observant. And we must at all
costs avoid the danger that a young
nurse, seeing a patient up and
dressed a day or two after, say an
abdominal operation, may be mis-
lead into thinking he no longer
needs her support and care. She
must learn to evaluate, because
what one person can support with
ease may mean a great mental suf-
fering and anxiety to another.
. The increase in the auxiliary
medical workers, such as techni-
clans, biO-chemists, etc, emphasize
es the value of a nurse as an intre-
gal part of any health team. The
nurse is truly the liaisOn between
all of these and the patient.
The aim in all nursing education
is good nursing service, and there
is no incOmpatibility between high
er standards of teaching and of the
care of the patient, the inevitable
result should be better nursing.
If nursing education were regarded
as an end in itself, there would be
real danger of producing nurses
with less understanding, but this
will never happen, for it is the de-
termination of us all, no matter
how the circumstances may vary.
to defend and maintain the philoso-
ply and the true art of nursing
which places general patient care
in the highest priority.
As science marches on. and the
nurse among others becomes con-
scious of its great achievements,
she, more than anyone, must turn
back to the human understanding
on which nursing is founded. She
must know that science alone is
limited when confronted with hui
man personality and human cir
It is fitting to the qualities the
nurse possesses, which are founded
on her spiritual and intellectual in
sight, that she will try to insure
that all of the advances in scientific
ana medical measures brought to
The bedside, TO the patient, to the
community in prevention and care.
are applied with good will, under
standing and the healing touch of
human sympathy.
Often when a patient who has
been treated most efficiently by the
latest advances in medical and sur
sicaI science, looks back on what
ne remembers most vividly, it is
he kindness of the nurses.
Kindness in nursing cannot be
over estimated. It endows the char
tcter with qualities which make il
rich and warm as the sentiments of
he heart temper the efficiency of
he work Of the head and the hands.