[NOTE H], [p. 78].
The following extracts will show the position and opportunities of study enjoyed by lady probationers and nurses at London hospitals. The first is taken from a letter written by a lady who was herself trained as a surgical nurse in a hospital. She writes:—
“In the ordinary course of the day’s work, I went round the wards with the visiting surgeons, and at the same time as the students, and, in fact, I should think, enjoyed exactly the same opportunities that people profess to be so much shocked at your desiring to obtain in Edinburgh. Part of my time was spent in study in the female and part in the male wards; and I never found either students or patients see anything at all exceptional in my presence in the latter, though I often had to perform services for the male patients which would never be expected of you as students. When any patients from my wards went into the theatre, for operation, I, as a matter of course, accompanied them, and was present during the operation, standing often quite near the surgeon, however many students might be there at the time. I was, therefore, constantly associated with the students in the hospital work, as were all the other ladies studying in the same capacity, and I never saw any difficulty in this arrangement, nor had any reason to suppose that the students did.”
Thinking that a lady’s evidence might be challenged on this matter, I wrote to one of the principal surgeons of the Middlesex Hospital for confirmation of her statement, and received the following reply:—
“Nurses and lady probationers are present in the wards, and attend the surgeons in their visits, and are present at operations. The students never, so far as I observed, took any notice of the question as to whether the female attendants in the wards were ladies or ordinary nurses—never, in short, troubled themselves about them.”
While on the subject, I will quote an extract from a letter received from Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, the first Englishwoman who ever received a medical degree. She says:—
“I walked St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the years 1850–51. I received permission to do so from the Governors, and was received by the medical faculty with a friendly courtesy for which I shall always be grateful. I always went round with the class of students during the physician’s visits. The medical class numbered about thirty students. I spent between five and six hours daily in recording and studying cases. During the visits, I never received anything but courtesy from the students. When studying in the wards, I received much kind assistance from the clinical clerks and dressers. While leaving the hospital the treasurer said to me—‘When we gave you permission to enter, we thought we were doing something so unusual that we were rather anxious about the result, but, really, everything has gone on so quietly, so exactly as usual, that we had almost forgotten you were here.’ ... My observation of mixed study is, that a small select number of women may join an ordinary school with little difficulty, and that there is even less trouble in arranging hospital visiting than class-room instruction.”
The last case that I will cite with reference to hospital instruction is that of Mrs Leggett, who is now attending as a regular student in Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin, and who writes:—
“I had the unanimous consent of the Board to pursue my medical studies in Steevens’ Hospital. As to the medical students, they are always civil. Dr Macnamara, President of the College of Physicians of Ireland, said it was his opinion that the presence of ladies would refine the classes.”