How to Become a Nurse

[backman]

I was recently fortunate to acquire a copy of a book I have been after for a while.
"How to become a Nurse" edited by Sir Henry Burdett is a guide for those ladies wishing to enter nurse training and lists all of the Hospitals and Institutions which offered training in the different branches of nursing.With chapters on ; I)    The Common Requirements of the Schools
                                    II)   Outline of the Principle Laws Affecting Nurses
                                    III)  General and Special Hospitals and Poor Law Infirmaries
                                    IV)  Nursing Institutions Managed by a Committee
                                    V)   Government Departments,Hospitals and Institutions in Great Britain
                                          where Nurses are Employed but not trained
                                    VI)  Colonial Hospitals
                                    VII) Hospitals,etc in the United States
                                    VIII)British Nursing Institutions Abroad
                                    IX)  Training Schools for Attendants on the Insane
                                    X)   Provident finding bodies,Associations for the Benefit of Nurses,etc

Very informative my issue is the seventh edition from 1904/05 and for each location lists the requirements and details for training thus;

Southampton.- Royal South Hants and Southampton Hospital.Beds 130. Matron;1 Assistant matron;8 Sisters;30 Probationers
After a personal interview and not more than 3 months trial,applicants are received for 3 years training.Candidates must be betweeen 21 and 35 years of age(but preference is given to those between 23 and 30) and must produce satisfactory evidence as to character,education,health and physique.LECTURES are given by the visiting staff and classes by the matron upon anatomy and physiology,medical and surgical nursing.A certificate is granted after passing examination and satisfactorily completing engagement.RECREATION,2 hours daily;Half day alternative Sundays;Half day monthly;2 or 3 weeks holiday in a year for probationers;and 4 weeks for sisters.ENTRANCE FEE,£1 1s SALARIES 1st year £8;2nd year £10;3rd year £12;Sisters £30 to £35  Laundry and indoor uniform are provided.Third year probationers act as staff probationers.

Packed full of such details.My question is how may years was this title published for and is this the same book that was edited by Honnor Morton?


                                     

[backman]

 The Common Requirements of the Schools

General Hospitals
Age- As a rule,the large training schools will not accept as probationers women under twenty-three nor over thity-five years of age,but some few accept probationers at twenty to twenty-one.The authorities at children's hospitals take probationers as young as twenty-one,and it is possible at certain institutions for chronic and convalescent cases to enter as early as eighteen for what is called preliminary training.
Preliminary Requirements-On applying to the Matron of the hospital selected,the would-be ptrobationer is sent a form of questions which she has to answer fully in her own handwritting.The questions are somewhat as follows;-
1.Name in full,present address,and home address
2.Are your parents living?
3.Age last birthday,date and place of birth
4.Height and weight
5.Where educated
6.Are you a single woman or widow?
7.If a widow,state when your husband died and where;and whether you have any children living,their ages,and how provided for.
8.Your father's occupation,or (if a widow) your husband's
9.Nature of late employment(if any).When and why did you leave it?
10.Nature of present employment(if any)and reason for leaving
11.Have you previous hospital work? If so,state when,where, and for how long?
12.The names and addresses of two persons(other than relitives)to be referred to.How long has each of them known you? If you have been previuosly employed ,one of these must be your last employer
13.Name and address of your usual medical attendant
14.Are you strong and have you always had good health?
15.Have you perfect sight and hearing?
16.Religion.
17.If accepted,about what date do you desire to secure a vacancy?
18.Have you read and do you clearly understand the regulations?

At the foot of most application forms is a request to be admitted as a probationer on trial and an agreement to confrm to all the rules and regulations which the applicant has to sign.Certificates of birth,of marriage(if a widow),and from a doctor,as to health and absence of any organic disease,have to accompany the application form on its return to the matron.Some hospitals(St BartholomewsHospital,London,for instance)require the candidate to undergo a medical examination at the hands of one of their medical staff.

.....To be continued

[backman]

...The next step is a personal interview with the matron,who ordinarily sets apart special days for that purpose,and if suitable the candidate will receive notice in due course of the date when she is come to the hospital.The application is required  to enter for a certain period,varying,as a rule,from one to three months,on trial,during which time she will probably have to supply herself with a uniform of the pattern used in the hospital,and in most cases she will have to give her services for this period gratuitously.

Agreement with the Hospital- If she satisfies the matron during her time on trial,she is accepted as a probationer,and has to sign an agreement to serve the hospital as a probationer and to confirm to its rules for the period of training which the hospital gives.Probationers are not at liberty to resign during the term of their agreement except by special permission,and,in some cases,on payment of a penalty,but they are liable to be dismissed at any time for misconduct or neglect of duty

Length of Training- The period of training most universally adopted as the standard of the great nursing schools is three years,but smaller institutions give two, and in some cases  only one years training.It is the custom at some schools to require an agreement for four years,three of which are devoted to training,and the fourth to service as a nurse on the hospital staff

System of Training- Probationers are taught their duties in the wards by the sisters or head nurses,and,in addition to this,have to attend lectures by the medical staff on elementary anatomy and physiology and other subjects,which occassionally include pharmacy.Class instruction on nursing generally is given by the matron or lady superintendant.It is becoming more and more the custom to include in the nurses' curriculum a course of instruction in sick-room cookery,and at a few of the large general hospitals certain of the nurses are  granted facilities for  preparation for the examinations in midwifery of the London Obstetrical Society.Examinations in the various subjects are held yearly,or in some hospitals after each course of lectures,and innearly every case the creditable passing of these examinations is an essential condition before a certificate is granted.

Certificates- Most training schools give their probationers a certificate upon the completion of their engagement to the institution,and,in order to obtain this certificate,they must have satisfied the lady superintendant as well as the examiners.

Medals and Prizes- Many of the training schools offer medals and prizes to their probationers as a means of stimulating them to take a high position at the examinations,these medals and prizes being ,as a rule,reserved for the nurses who gain the greatest number of marks at each examination

....

[backman]

Hours on Duty-  the finding gives a general idea of a nurse's hours when on day duty.Rise,6.30am;Breakfast,7.15;prayers,7.45;wards,8am to 9pm.,with a break of 10 or 15 minutes at about 10 o'clock for lunch,three quarters of an hour at 11.30 or 12.15 for dinner,and half an hour at 5 or 5.30 for tea;supper at 9 or 9.30,prayers at 9.30,bedroom at 10.00,and lights out at 10.45 pm.
When on night duty a nurse gets up at 8 pm.,breakfasts at 8.35,and reaches the wards at 9.15pm.,where she remains until she comes off duty at 8.30 the finding morning.During the time on duty there is half an hour off at about 12.30,1 or 1.30.Dinner is taken at 9 am.,supper at noon,and the nurse retires to her bedroom at 1pm As a rule nurses are upon day and night duty alternately for periods of three months at a time.

[nursesue]

great info Pete and we thought training in the 1980s was hard!!!!
sue

[backman]

..Recreation- Probationers are allowed off duty for about two hours daily (which may mean one hour one day and three hours the next),for two half days and a whole day monthly,and on Sundays two and a half hours and five hours alternate weeks,and they receive two to four weeks' holiday in the year.Nurses and sisters have rather longer hours off duty,and a longer annual holiday.

Salary- The amount of salary received by a probationer during her first year of training is a very variable quantity.Many hospitals pay no salary until the second year,others anything up to about £10. [*see below] During the second year the salary is about £12,during the third about £18. Staff nurses' salaries run from about £25 to £30 per annum.

Uniform and Laundry- Usually indoor uniform,or material for making up the uniform,is provided for after the end of the trial month,but some hospitals do not provide uniform during the first year of probationership.Outdoor uniform is not often provided.A reasonable amount of laundry work is done for the nurses,or there is an allowance of say 2s 6d [ *12 1/2p] a week

Premium- Only a few training schools now require a premium to be paid by probationers.Those which do,as a rule,make the probationers serve for the first year gratuitously.

Sleeping Accomodation- The sleeping accomodation for both nurses and probationers in our hospitals is distinctly better than it used to be .The change has taken place gradually,and now in very many institutions each nurse and probationer has a separate bedroom.So far as we have been able to get returns we have noted this point in the detailed particulars which follow.

Pension Arrangements- But few hospitals have a superannuation fund for their nurses when past work,but since the establishment of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses this has been rendered les important than it was before,as most nurses,if they join the Fund when they are probationers,can manage to make provision for old age or ill health.An increasing number of hospitals have now a system whereby all the nurses who join the Pension Fund have half the premium paid for them by the Institution

Paying Probationers- A few of the schools take paying probationers,who as a rule,come to the institution for three months,six months or one years training,paying at the rate of about £1 1s a week for board and lodging.These paying probationers are under the same rules as the ordinary probationers,except that they are excempt from night duty,and in institutions where there is no ward maids they do not have to keep the wards clean,except so far as dusting and light work are concerned.No salary is paid,and uniform and washing are not provided.Paying probatioers,if they desire it,may often after their years training continue in the hospital as ordinary probationers for the full three years.In fact many matrons in finding up the vacancies amongst the ordinary probationers give preference to those candidates who are serving as paying probationers and have shown themselves to be suitable.

*[ Comparative values on earnings for 1904 to 2007 would be £10= £4,133.56, £25=£10,333.90  see;http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/index.php ]

[backman]

                                               A Nurse not a Doctor

It is perhaps hardly necesssary to point out that a nurse is not a doctor.Her position is subservient to that of the doctor.She is there to carry out his orders;but she is not entitled to prescribe for the patient herself,or to decide what method of treatment ,is to tread on dangerous groundis proper for the disease from which the patient is suffering.There is no law which can prevent any person,even a nurse,from precribing for a patient if desired to do so.But to discharge a function of this kind without possessing the requisite skill and knowledge,which only a medical training can give.Any person who deals with the life or health of his Majesty's subjects is bound to have proper skill and knowledge,and if a patient dies foe want of it,such person is guilty of manslaughter.Similarly,if the patientis injured without dying,there is a corresponding liability,and,in any case,the person who presumes to prescribe without competent knowledge,may be liable to an action for damages.

[backman]

                     Male Nursing

the facilities open to men who desire to train as nurses are not very great in England.With the exception of the Military and naval Hospitals,only two or three schools exist for male nurses.These will be found under MALE NURSES


.....MALE NURSES
  Grace H. , Detroit p.330
  National Hosp for the Paralysed, p.111
  New York-City H. Male Training School p.333
 

[backman]

 National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic,Queen Square,Bloomsbury,W.C.  Beds 200.

Matron;Assistant Matron;Housekeeper;1 Night Sister,;10 Sisters;31 Staff and Probationer Nurses;1 Male Charge Nurse;9 Male Probationers. Applications average 20 yearly

After a personal interview and 1 month's trial,applicants are received for 2 years' training.Candidates must be between 23 and 35 years of age,and must produce satisfactory evidence as to character,education,health and physique.INSTRUCTION is given by the sisters and medical officers.Examinations are held once a year.A certificate is granted upon satisfactory completion of engagement.RECREATION- Probationers ,2 hours daily;half-day fortnightly;whole Sunday every three weeks;assistant nurses, 2 hours daily; 1 evening (6 to 9.30pm) and 1 half-day (2 to 9.30pm) fortnightly;whole Sunday every three weeks;Night nurses,9.30am to 12.30pm,five days of week;4.30 to 8.30pm remainder of week;1 night monthly;sisters,2 evenings (5.30 to 10.00pm)and 1 morning(9.30 to 11.45am) weekly;1 half-day(2 to 10pm) and 1 afternoon(2 to 6pm) fortnightly;1 whole Sunday every 3 weeks. PREMIUM,nil. SALARY,1st year,£12;2nd year,£16;staff nurses with 3 years' general training,£20,rising £1 yearly to a maximum of £25;sisters £30 to £35.Laundry and indoor uniform are provided.Cubicle sleeping accomodation principally,but some nurses have separate bedrooms.Sisters are nominated bt Board of Management and must have had 3 years' general training.
MALE NURSES-Men are also received as probationers for 2 years raining,the regulations being the same as for female probationers with the finding exceptions:Age 21 to 35 years.SALARY,1st year £12;2nd year £20.