Note as to teaching Nursing.
There is, at Madras, an Institution called the Military Female Orphan Asylum, which trains 200 orphan girls, daughters of European soldiers. They enter in infancy, and, as they attain a proper age, they are married to soldiers or others. There is always an abundance of applicants for them, and every endeavour is made to train them to be useful soldiers’ wives. Dr. MacPherson, the excellent Principal Medical Officer of the Turkish Contingent, when at Kertch, who is now in charge of this Asylum, was the person, I believe, who introduced amongst the senior girls, a system of training, to enable them to officiate as nurses, an all-important element in their education. Below is a syllabus of the theoretical branches taught, a practical knowledge being acquired in the Hospital attached to the Institution. It would be well if all women underwent a similar training.
Course of Instruction for the Class of Sick Nurses, at the Military Female Orphan Asylum.
Popular and Regional Anatomy and Physiology.
A general knowledge of the human body, its various organs, and their uses.
Sanitation.
To be made acquainted with every subject relating to health, viz.: Food—Exercise—Clothing—Cleanliness—Ventilation, &c.
Sick-room Management.
Administration of Medicines, Application of Leeches, Lotions, Fomentations, &c. Cleanliness, Darkening of the Apartment, Quietness, &c. Cooking for the Sick. Diet for Infants.
Household Medicine and Surgery.
To be taught how to act in emergencies, viz.: in cases of Fainting—Hysterics—Convulsions of Children—Burns—Stings of Insects—Wounds, &c.; and the simplest mode of treating the diseases most commonly met with in India, viz.:
- External Inflammation,
- Cholera,
- Fever,
- Dysentery,
- Sore Eyes,
- Bowel Complaints,
- Cutaneous Eruptions.
How to prepare Poultices, Fomentations, and Lotions.
How to dress Wounds, Sores, and Blisters.
How to apply Bandages.
Footnotes:
- [21] If the sisters and nurses, as a rule, were fed as well as lodged at all the Hospitals, &c., the class of women would, in a very short time, be entirely changed; this kind of employment would not then, with the reduced money payment, be so much an object of desire to widows with families, particularly if compelled to subscribe to a pension fund, which should be compulsory.
- [22] At first it would be unwise to attempt too much. If extended to Her Majesty’s dominions or private nurses, it would be almost impossible to control abuses.
- [23] Every institution ought to provide for its nurses during illness, but in fact it is not done.
- [24] A curious fact will be shown by Table A, viz., that 18,122 out of 39,139, or nearly one-half of all the Nurses, in domestic service, are between 5 and 20 years of age.