CHAPTER XLII. SCHOOLS FOR NURSES. The number of schools for training nurses reported for the year 1902 was 545, an increase of nearly 100 over the previous year. The number of nurses receiving instruction was 13,252, an increase of 1,653, and the number completing the course was 4,015. The value of the grounds and buildings of the hospitals reported was $106,962,246. The endowment funds amounted to $21,332;557. Licensing nurses.—“A bill has been passed in the Illinois legislature providing for the examining and licensing of trained nurses by the State board of health. A move ment is on foot among the nurses of Massachusetts to secure the enactment of a similar measure." "An act to amend the public health law relative to the practice of nursing is now before the New York State legislature. The object of this amendment is to prevent ill-trained or incompetent persons from posing as nurses. The act provides that the regents of the University of the State of New York shall appoint a board of examiners, who shall judge of the fitness of candidates for registration as nurses. A candidate to be eligible for examination must be over the age of 21 years, of good moral character, and must hold a diploma from a training school for nurses connected with a hospital giving a course of at least two years. When these conditions have been fulfilled and the examination passed the successful competitors will be granted a certificate by the regents testifying to their qualifications to practice as registered nurses, and shall have the right to style themselves as such, which privilege will be denied to all others." b Trained nurses in Germany. "The trained nurses of Germany are agitating a petition to the Government to grant them an official examination after a three years' course of training and a certificate for successfully passing the examination. This certificate can be withdrawn by the authorities in case of unworthy conduct on the part of the graduate. They also demand that the Government should not appropriate funds for the support of hospitals which exact more than eleven hours of service from the nurses and which have not made adequate provision for pensions in case of old age and sickness. The Government is also petitioned to supply means for an official three years' course of training." Home for nurses.d-"As a result of plans prepared by friends of the New York Hospital, the graduate nurses of this institution are to have a clubhouse and home. The building, including the purchase of a tract of land centrally situated, will cost $300,000. The building will accommodate 130 nurses." a N. Y. Med. Jour., March 7, 1903. This bill, however, was vetoed by the Governor. bN. Y. Med. Record, March 14, 1903. This bill has since been amended and passed by the legislature and approved by the Governor. eJour. A. M. A., Nov. 15, 1902. d Jour. A. M. A., Dec. 6, 1902. |