Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ABSTRACTS. 397
the iiKliyidual girls; and she caps her au- the number of matriculates from other
Ihonty by claiming the privilege of refus- countries.
ing a diploma after a long and tyrrannous An irregularity in the individual course
course of training, to any or every nurse of training which is stronglv suggestive of
who in any manner, trifling or otherwise, a medieval and irresponsible autocracy
may have incurred her displeasure. Her A commercialism among the -raduate
despotism is absolute: there is no court of nurses which is more suggestive of class
eal It matters not that three years or discrimination than is the most radical trademore
liave been consumed in arduous, unionism.
earnest toil. It matters not that the pres- A growing popular antagonism to a callsure
of poverty is threatening, or that the ing which should be held in the highest
?irl may be looking forward eagerly to the esteem bv the people of all classes
;ime when she may bring her hard-wrought As far as the imported head nurse periarnnigs
to the support of her family. One sonally is concerned, there are two main
ierehction of duty or one breach of an arbi- causes, as I see it, for the deplorable failure
rary hospital rule will annul all that has she has achieved, and probably the forerone
before, and the offending girl may be, most and that of prime importance is the
ind frequently is, summarily dismissed lack of affiliation between her and the sturom
the institution in disgrace. Is it to be dents. Without exception, in mv experi-
;vondered at that the number of native girls, ence, she has not won the confidence and
mbued with the spirit of American inde- alTectionate regard of the student classes
)endeiice and superlative womanhood, seek- On the contrary, she is heartily disliked by
ng admission to these training schools, has all and abjectly feared by many This in
limiiushed remarkably in recent years, or and of itself, is a fatal error. Why this
hat the average .standard of mentality and should be is bevond my province to' state
noral tone of those who do matriculate is positively, but' from my chance personal
lot all that the friends of scientific nursing observations I should attribute it largely to
irould desire? Is it any wonder that those the despotic adiministration which she has
vho weather the storm of tyrrannous abuse seen proper to institute and which I have
lid win the coveted piece of parchment or already referred to.
official document suffer the inevitable reac- Again, it is unfortunately true that these
ion that such injustice engenders? Who women, earnest though thev may be in their
an blame them altogether for fostering a love for their chosen calling, are verv often
iehng of retaliation wliicli they can inflict weak enough to permit national ties' to innly
upon an inoffensive and supine public? fluence and even to master them. They
[erein do we find the true explanation for seem to forget that thev are aliens, mere
le autocratic and offensive stand taken by sojourners in a strange land, wtth ostensicertain
element of the nursing fraternity, bly but one object in view, and that the
nd to this ultimate cause can all the dis- training of the native girls in their own
strousanddistressingtrainof evils be irre- adopted calling. Hence it comes to pass
itably traced.
that in most of these training schools ^
the
"Mnie Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." Canadian girls and those coming from
What is tlie conclusion to which we are across the sea are favored in everv possible
resistably driven? This only: The extant manner. I am told by one who is thor-
'Stem of [ training to our schools of nursing oughly acquainted with the intricacies of
IS been weighed i in the balances of time the problem, that in one of the schools in a
;:id results, and in many of its features has neighboring State, from 85 to 90 per cent.
;en found wanting. The final outcome of of the girls are of Canadian extraction. A
lie maladministration and mistraining of physician of my own city who is connected
ose who are in authority I is an evil which with one of the prominent hospitals recently
reatens not onlv the flimsy superstructure informed me that the foreign head nurse
ey I have erected but even the very fouii- and superintendent of the institution aslitioiis
of the nursing fraternity as well, tounded him by remarking: "YourAmeri-
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'hat are the results that obtain? Subjected can girls are utterly incapable as trained
an ( ultimate analysis they appear as fol- nurses. When I want a really good nurse
''^^^- • I must send to Canada for her!" Such a
' I A lower standard of mentality and mor- statement, which, it is needless to say, is
pity among the matriculates and graduates, altogether without fouodation in fact, and
The almost total obliteration of the hu- as absurd as it is false, is an affront I
to
I Unitarian aspect of the vocation. American womanhood, and could be proinpt-
KA notable diminution in the number of ed only by a partisan feeling of nationality,
gplicatioiis for matriculation from the na- which at once stamped the speaker as en-
Ife American girls. tirely unfit to the position she held. Be
fjA remarkable and suggestive increase in this as it may, the woman but typified her
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