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Show 167 At nine-thirty we appeared on duty some mornings. Other mornings we went straight there with class from ten to twelve. Additional classes were held in the evening from seven to nine. Meantime we were on duty so that our day was usually fourteen hours. We had to be in our rooms at nine-thirty P. M., in bed by ten. Twice a week we had late passes, one to ten-thirty and one to midnight, but the doors of the dormitories were locked at nine. In order to be admitted on our late passes we had to congregate at the hospital and be escorted by a supervisor with keys. Anyone late getting in was called on the carpet, catechized unmercifully, and punished, usually by loss of late passes for a period of time. Those in for the regular course of three years lived in the large nurses' home and wore different uniforms. Probationers had a blue uniform with collar and apron, no bib or cap. If they survived for six months in training they received the rest of their uniform and could change to white under uniform. We were in for eleven months, a one year, undergraduate course, the other month to be given to charity in our respective stakes when we came out of training, to pay for our uniforms and the privilege of being trained. Our classes were in anatomy, physiology, nurses' technique, and ethics. We were given the Florence Nightingale concept of nursing, told that she was the one who had elevated it from a status not much above harlotry, indeed often the personnel were one and the same, to a noble profession above reproach. We were to keep Miss Nightingale's lamp bright. |
