454 



NURSES, TRAINED. 



An outline of the training at Bellevue applies 

 also to that of other institutions, most of which 

 have been organized under its direction. Even 

 the matron of the Lying-in Hospital in London, 

 England, is an alumna of Bellevue, and was se- 

 lected from many applicants. Several heads of 

 training schools in Canada are from Bellevue. 

 Some have gone to China, Turkey, and Japan. 

 The St. Paul Hospital Training School, at Rome, 

 Italy, founded for the purpose of meeting the 

 needs of American and English travelers, was put 

 under the charge of a Bellevue graduate. In the 

 early days, nurses from Canada and elsewhere out- 

 side the* United States were taken to be trained, 

 but in later years this has been stopped; since 

 but a limited number can be accepted, the privilege 

 is confined to Americans. Nurses are still sup- 

 plied to other countries, but pupils are not ac- 

 cepted from them. 



On Christmas, 1887, Mr. D. O. Mills presented 

 a sum of money for the founding of a school for 

 male trained nurses. This was completed in 1888, 

 and placed under the supervision of the female 

 training school, Mrs. E. S. Willard, of the class 

 of 1887, being placed in full control. From this 

 place male nurses are supplied. 



The mother of the training school, Sister Helen, 

 did not remain with it long, though long enough 

 to see it on a good working basis. Failing health 

 forced her to return to England in 1870. Miss 

 Van Rensselaer was also obliged to leave. They 

 were succeeded by Miss E. P. Perkins, under whose 

 care the school remained twelve years. When, in 

 1888, she also retired, she was succeeded by her 

 assistant for four years, Miss Agnes S. Brennan, 

 who still fills the post of superintendent, the 

 third in its twenty-eight years of existence. Since 

 the rapid multiplication of training schools here 

 and in Europe the drain from Bellevue has nat- 

 urally grown less. The Spanish-American War 

 again gave a new impetus to the demand from 

 military and naval hospitals. Five or six Bellevue 

 graduate nurses are at work in Manila, and several 

 from other training schools also, and a new field 

 has been opened in Porto Rico and Cuba. Miss 

 O'Donnell, of New York, has established the first 

 training school in Cuba in the Government hos- 

 pital of Our Lady of Mercies, Havana. Her pupils 

 are Spanish nuns and some Cuban young women. 

 Another New York nurse has gone out to Africa in 

 charge of nurses attached to a Canadian regiment, 

 and still another in charge of those on the hospital 

 ship Maine. During the past year 13 graduates of 

 Bellevue have married. The calls for private nurs- 

 ingduring the sameyearwere 698; while therewere 

 30 applications for superintendents or head nurses 

 in hospitals, only 10 of which the school could fill. 

 Forty-five entered for the class of 1900; 13 left after 

 the month of probation and 5 were dropped dur- 

 ing the year, leaving only 27 to graduate. These 

 figures indicate that not all women who feel the 

 ambition to become nurses are qualified by nature 

 to do so. A dishonest certificate of health is sure 

 to reveal itself. One of the axioms of a hospital 

 training school is, that no one with a tendency 

 to " consumption, rheumatism, nervousness, or 

 flat foot " should attempt to enter. The desirable 

 age is between twenty-three and thirty-three. Be- 

 sides the regular two years' training course, many 

 who wish to keep in touch with advanced surgery 

 and medicine take a post-graduate course of an- 

 other year. 



Several hospitals whose training schools have 

 come into existence within the past ten- years 

 make their regular course three years. This is the 

 rule with certain hospitals in England, Germany, 

 and other countries of Europe, and with some of 



those in Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities. 

 This is the rule with St. Luke's and the Presby- 

 terian, in New York. A model of the wards in 

 the Presbyterian Hospital was sent to the recent 

 exposition at Paris, and received a prize. Fine 

 training schools are attached to both these hos- 

 pitals, which supply nurses to private patients. 

 In hospitals comparatively private like these the 

 nurses have access to other hospitals also for spe- 

 cial study, such as the Maternity, the Foundling 

 in charge of a trained sisterhood the scarlet fever, 

 and the diphtheria hospitals. Yet there is m> 

 lack of opportunity for study within such an in- 

 stitution itself. In 1900, 3,322 patients were ad- 

 mitted to beds in the wards of the Presbyterian 

 Hospital, 4,349 were treated in the emergency 

 ward, 17,207 were admitted to the dispensary, and 

 the ambulance answered 2,446 calls. The record 

 of other semiprivate hospitals in Boston, Phila- 

 delphia, Chicago, San Francisco, and all large 

 American cities could equal these. 



In all hospitals nurses, after their month of pro- 

 bation, if admitted, wear the hospital uniform 

 cotton gown, white cap and apron. In addition 

 to board and lodging and laundry 24 pieces a 

 week each nurse receives $10 a month for dress 

 and expenses incident to her studies, the educa- 

 tion received being an equivalent for her service--. 

 The hours of duty are, as a rule, from 7 A. M 

 to 7.30 P. M. for day nurses, and for the night 

 staff from 7.30 p. M to 7 A.M. From an hour to 

 two hours daily are given for rest, one afternoon 

 each week is granted, and either half the day 

 Sunday or every second Sunday. These hours, 

 however, are liable to vary with the requirement* 

 of work, and nurses may be called for day or night 

 duty in the care of private patients. From two to 

 three weeks' vacation is allowed each year. 



Homoeopathic hospitals in all large cities have 

 now their own corps of nurses and training 

 schools. This is no more than a matter of esprit 

 de corps, for the training is practically the same 

 in old as new schools of medicine. The honueo- 

 pathic hospital on Blackwell's Island is worthy of ' 

 special mention, because, although a charity hos- 

 pital, it is one of the most attractive in appear- 

 ance in the land. Many dainty devices are re- 

 sorted to in order to do away with the regulation 

 hospital air and give it a look of home. Its utili- 

 tarian appointments also are noticeably good. 

 Woman nurses attend to the men as well as to 

 the women. Its training school is flourishing, and 

 its superintendent. Mi>- Ma honey, is a skilled 

 pharmacist as well as a trained nurse. 



The really systematic nursing of paupers began 

 in 1884, when the State Charities Aid Association 

 laid down rules that no feeble, disabled, or intern -v 

 perate person should be allowed to attend on the 

 sick, and that one good paid nurse, at least . shouM 

 be in every poorhouse. Most other cities have 

 similar rules. Although every State and every 

 city of any size has now its training school, the 

 most numerous and notable of these, after Ne^f 

 York, are perhaps in Boston, Philadelphia. Chi- 

 cago, and St. Louis, and a very fine training school 

 is attached to the State general hospital at Port- 

 land, Me. Several hospitals continue to prefer 

 that their nurses belong to sisterhoods. M. 

 Luke's, New York, for instance, had from is 

 foundation, in 1850, some trained sisters, but Iny 

 pupils are now admitted to its training scho( 1. 

 A similar order of Protestant sisters is in Syr.i* 

 cuse. who also do parish and district work. Tie 

 order of St. Margaret a branch from the Eng- 

 lish in Boston, are noted nurses, and a high price 

 i- paid by private patients to enter their hospital.' 



In England the training schools are largely mr 



