Is Nursing the Same Profession That It Used To Be?
...eed to go to University for four years to achieve the degree, getting no worse than a C in every course. To acquire a position in a hospital, a nurse would need to be at minimum, RN, and having experience is highly regarded. Even now, to get into a graduate school, you need “a baccalaureate degree from a nationally accredited nursing program with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the last 90 graded quarter credits” Retrieved February 24, 2002, from http://www.son.washington.edu/eo/mn_app_info.asp A nurse’s uniform was always straight forward and strict, and still is today. A nurse must wear what he/she is told to wear. The main difference from the uniforms today compared to the way they were, was the comfort aspect. “The early uniforms of the American nurses, although strongly influenced by the prevailing fashion of women’s dress, were copied from those worn by nurses in English hospitals. These uniforms were designed to be practical, but comfort was not considered and sanitation was unknown. The high collar, the long stiff cuffs and the skirt two inches from the floor could not have been comfortable.” (Dietz & Lehozky, 1967, p. 168-169) All the uniforms had to be very starched, to look as neat and clean as possible. It wasn’t tolerated to have a dirty uniform. “The dress of an attendant on the sick should be simple and becoming, and not such as will excite the wonder, the fear, or the risibility of a patient. The dress should be long enough to clear the ground... A nurse should wear a neat cap, and should be careful to have shoes which do not creak. A pair of scissors and a pin-cushion carried from a girdle will be found also of great service. It is customary with many nurses to carry with them a small pocket case filled with instruments, such as scissors, dressing forceps, caustic holder, tongue depressor and so forth.” Retrieved February 12, 2002, from http://enw.org/1895_Nursing.htm However, today, nurses mainly wear medical scrubs, just like the other staff in the hospital. That is one con to the uniforms today. It is difficult for someone to identify who is a nurse, a doctor or a nurse’s aid. If a nurse was to wear something different then scrubs, it would have “Chinese collar ¾ sleeves, one breast pocket two down pocket with shoulder loops and back belt, both sided chak, front 8 steel button, fabric 65% Poly and 35% combed cotton.” Retrieved February 24, 2002, from http://www.hospitalmanagement.net/contractors/clothing/alhusaiki/alhusaiki2.html. In the early nineteen hundreds a nurse got paid about minimum wage, which would be around nine dollars a day. If she were to do private nursing, it would go up to eleven dollars a day. Today, the average wage for a registered nurse is twenty dollars an hour. It also varies depending on the province, and can be even more in the United States; up to twenty-five dollars an hour. The responsibilities of a nurse have changed a great deal more than anything else in the nursing profession. In the 19th century, it seemed as though a nurse wasn’t a nurse at all, but more like a maid, to make sure things were kept clean. It didn’t matter how long they would have to work. There was no such thing as over time. Nurses' Duties in 1887 The following job description was given to floor nurses by a hospital in 1887: In addition to caring for your 50 patients, each nurse will follow these regulations: 1. Daily sweep and mop the floors of your ward, dust the patient's furniture and window sills. 2. Maintain an even temperature in your ward by bringing in a scuttle of coal for the day's business. 3. Light is important to observe the patient's condition. Therefore, each day fill kerosene lamps, clean chimneys and trim wicks. Wash the windows once a week. 4. The nurse's notes are important in aiding the physician's work. Make your pens carefully; you may whittle nibs to your individual taste. 5. Each nurse on day duty will report every day at 7 a.m. and leave at 8 p.m. except on the Sabbath on which day you will be off from 12 noon to 2 p.m. 6. Graduate nurses in good standing with the director of nurses will be given an evening off each week for courting purposes or two evenings a week if you go regularly to church. 7. Each nurse should lay aside from each pay day a goodly sum of her earnings for her benefits during her declining years so that she will not become a burden. For example, if you earn $30 a month you should set aside $15. 8. Any nurse who smokes, uses liquor in any form, gets her hair done at a beauty shop, or frequents dance halls will give the director of nurse’s good reason to suspect her worth, intentions and integrity. 9. The nurse who performs her labors and serves her patients and doctors without fault for five years will be given an increase of five cents a day, providing there are no hospital debts outstanding. Retrieved February 12, 2002, from http://www.care-nurse.com/memories/1887.html A nurse today is responsible for a great deal more than a nurse in the...