The University Hospital Training School for Nurses was organized soon after the hospital was removed from the campus to its present locality. This was late in the winter of 1891. At that time the capacity of the hospital was sixty beds. The training course, as then established, was for two years. The care of the patients was delegated to eight probationers, under the direct supervision of Mrs. Pettigrew, a trained nurse pursuing medical studies in the University. Sleeping accommodations were provided for part of the nursing force in the basement of the present medical ward (formerly the Homeopathic Hospital); the remainder were lodged a block away at the house of the superintendent of the hospital. These pioneer nurses performed their duties under great difficulties, owing to inadequate equipment and unsuitable surroundings.
Mrs. Pettigrew was succeeded after two months' service by Miss Davis, of the Episcopal Hospital, Philadelphia. Miss Davis resigned at the end of four months, and Mrs. Pettigrew again became head nurse—remaining one year. She was succeeded in the summer of 1893 by Mrs. Padfield, a graduate of the Farrand Training School, Harper Hospital, Detroit.
The first graduating exercises were held in the then University chapel, now Room C, in December 1893. These exercises were followed by a reception given by President and Mrs. Angell. After three years' service Mrs. Padfield was succeeded by Miss Anna Harrison, of the class of 1893. From time to time, as the exigencies of the hospital demanded, the nursing force was increased, until at Miss Harrison's resignation, after two years' efficient service, there were sixteen nurses in the school.
The opening of the Nurses' Home in the spring of 1898, was an event which the nurses hailed with joy. The rooms were commodious and airy, well lighted and heated, with proper facilities for bathing and general comfort. The parlor and reception hall were handsomely furnished, through the efforts of the Fruit and Flower Mission an organization composed of prominent women of the city interested in philanthropic work in connection with the hospital.
Miss Harrison's successor was Miss Amy Miller, of St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago. During Miss Miller's administration the number of nurses was increased to twenty. Even with this number, as the operative work expanded, it was necessary to call in graduates to care for special cases in private rooms. At this time numerous questions of policy were discussed, the agitation resulting eventually in some innovations and changes for the better in the organization of the school.
In the autumn of 1899 Miss Grace Ellsworth, an alumna, class of 1898, was appointed superintendent of nurses. For the first time graduates were permanently employed—a head clinic-nurse and two head ward-nurses being appointed. Four probationers were added to the nursing corps.
When the medical wards were opened in the spring of 1901, more nurses were admitted to training, and two more graduates were secured—one to serve as night supervisor, the other as head ward-nurse.
Miss Ellsworth was instrumental in securing a teacher of domestic science to instruct the nurses in dietetics, and to oversee the practical work of the diet kitchen.
This practically brings the history of the school down to September 1, 1901, when the writer assumed its responsibilities. Our present organization is as follows: A course of practical and theoretical instruction, extending over a period of three years, is offered to women between twenty-two and thirty-two years of age, who wish to become professional nurses. Women of superior education and refinement are encouraged to take up the work—a high school education, or its equivalent, being required. Applicants are received for two months on probation. The Superintendent of Nurses judges of their fitness to enter upon the work of nursing, and accepts or rejects the candidates according to her best judgment. Board, lodging, and laundry service are provided all pupils. They also receive fifty dollars the first year, and seventy-five dollars each, the second and third years. This amount is simply a provision for the purchase of uniforms and textbooks—the education received being deemed full compensation for the services rendered. The hours of duty are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with two hours granted in this period, for study, rest, and recreation.
Graduates are no longer employed for special cases, but all special nursing is done by the pupils who are de-tailed for such service, at the discretion of the superintendent of The School. In the event of sickness nurses receive gratuitous care. A vacation of two months is granted during the three years; this is a return of the probationary term given by the pupil. All the time lost, however, is made up before graduation.
A lecture course has now been instituted by the medical faculty of the University, the work being committed to the charge of the clinical professors. Anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, and materia medica are taught by the house physicians; dietetics, by the diet instructor; pharmacology, by the pharmacist; and principles and practice of nursing, by the superintendent of nurses and her assistant. Practical instruction and demonstrations in operating-room technique are given by the head clinic-nurse. Bandaging is taught by one of the surgical assistants; and massage is demonstrated by the female assistant to the neurologist.
At the expiration of the full three years, written examinations are held by the hospital board of examiners. The examinations satisfactorily passed, each nurse is entitled to the school badge and a diploma under the seal of the University.
The school has outgrown the capacity of the Home, which furnished such ample accommodations at the time of its erection. It is now necessary to rent rooms in a neighboring house to provide for the overflow. Additional rooms for nurses will be furnished in the Palmer Memorial ward now in course of construction. One most acceptable feature is the rooms specially designed for night nurses, on the third floor of this building. Quiet and rest will be assured to those obliged to sleep during the day, after long hours of arduous night duty.
The nursing staff consists of the superintendent and her assistant, a night supervisor, head clinic-nurse, dietetian, three head ward-nurses, and thirty-six pupils.
A directory is kept by the superintendent of the school, from which graduate nurses are sent, at any hour of the day or night, to physicians or others requiring their services.
The alumnae association of the school is in active operation. It is affiliated with the Trained Nurses' Alumnae Association of the United States, and expects to send its first delegate to the annual meeting of that body, which will convene in Boston the coming spring. The local association meets on the last Saturday of every month, excepting July and August. The meetings are conducted along parliamentary lines; papers are read and topics discussed which are of special interest to nurses as professional women. The alumnae number 67. Of these, 16 are holding positions of trust as superintendents and teachers in training schools—1 in California, 1 in New Mexico, 1 in Washington, 1 in Kentucky, 1 in Indiana, 3 in Missouri, and 8 in Michigan; 41 are engaged in private nursing; 9 are married; and 1is dead.
The governing power of the school is vested in the hospital board of clinical professors, who take a lively interest in the school and in all affairs and methods pertaining to the advancement of the interests of nursing. It is gratifying to note the development of this school in conjunction with the progress constantly being made in the Department of Medicine and Surgery. It is the purpose of that in charge to keep in touch with the best methods of teaching the art of nursing. Every effort is made to gain the interest of young women naturally and educationally adapted to the work: —those possessed of strong character and high ideals of womanhood, and imbued with the importance and seriousness of their undertaking. There can be nothing menial in any service when rendered in a spirit of self-sacrifice and mercy.
Helen Balcom
Superintendent of the Training School for Nurses
University Hospital
The Michigan Alumnus
February 1903, Page 193
