Reminiscences of Linda Richards: America's First Trained Nurse |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American training schools beautiful beds Bellevue Hospital born nurse Boston City Hospital charge comfortable course Cowles custom daily Dimock doctor Edinburgh Royal Infirmary England Hospital English enter excellent experience friends gave given graduate nurses Hartford Hospital head nurse Hospital and Superintendent Hospital for Women Hospital Training School instruction interest Japan Japanese jinriksha King's College Hospital Kobe LINDA RICHARDS live Massachusetts General Hospital Matron of Hospital methods Miss Nightingale Miss Pringle Miss Richards months morning never night duty night nurses nurse in America nurses of today patients physicians pital pleasant probationers profes pupil nurse received Richard Stanford Richards's Royal Infirmary school for nurses sick Sister Helen spent steamer strange super superin Superintendent of Training tendent Thomas's Hospital Training tion trained nurse trustees Wardroper wards woman wonderful X JAPAN Yokohama young women
Popular passages
Page 18 - No sooner had the day nurses left the wards than the gas was turned so low that the faces of the patients could not be distinguished. One could see only the dim outlines of figures wrapped in gray blankets lying upon the beds. If any work was to be done, a candle must be lighted, and only two candles a week were allowed each ward. If more were used, the nurse had to provide them. At midnight all the steam was turned off; at...
Page 104 - It stands to reason that the mentally sick should be at least as well cared for as the physically sick...
Page 19 - I could have light in the wards. She said, "Go to the warden and tell him." Under the solemn promise (always faithfully kept) to use no more gas than would enable us to fulfill our duties, and to turn off all gas as soon as it was light, we were allowed night light. So one step in advance was taken. ^ Written night orders and reports were at that time unknown. Night nurses went on duty at...
Page 3 - Experience, which is a most excellent teacher, together with the instruction of older women and of the family doctor, provided a practical and efficient training. A love for the work and a strong desire to alleviate suffering had made most of them excellent nurses.
Page 27 - The fifth day she would begin as general utility nurse, but at nine go off duty to sleep, so as to be ready to go on duty that night. The sixth day she had to herself.
Page 18 - Barrows, 1911), 18-19, Richards suggested an important early environmental impediment to nursing observation. Concerning night duty at Bellevue Hospital, she recalled, "No sooner had the day nurses left the wards than the gas was turned so low that the faces of the patients could not be distinguished. One could only see the dim outlines of figures wrapped in gray blankets lying upon the beds. If any work was to be done, a candle must be lighted, and only two candles a week were allowed each ward....
Page 106 - A two years' course in a state hospital for the insane often develops a pupil nurse in an astonishing manner. The average probationer does not possess a very large amount of patience or tact — two essential qualities in the making of a good nurse. In nursing the insane these qualities must be cultivated, and must grow under cultivation, or the pupil is an absolute failure.
Page 19 - AM he turned off all the gas, leaving us in total darkness. Patients took advantage of this condition to leave their beds and give trouble in many ways. At the end of my first month I told Sister Helen I could not be responsible for the patients unless I could have light in the wards.
Page 14 - We pioneer nurses entered the school with a strong desire to learn; we were well and strong; we were on the watch for stray bits of knowledge, and were quick to grasp any which came within our reach.
Page 65 - Miss Drown, of whose excellent service I have just spoken. On December 14, 1885, I started alone for Japan. Taking the Southern Pacific route, I spent Christmas with an old friend in Los Angeles, and then sailed from San Francisco on the 3Oth of December.