Medical College Hospital School of Nursing - Cap and Candle Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 46 text:

NIGHT DUTY IN TRAINING Five-thirty, girls, our suppers wait, Come get up quick or We'll be late. More hash tonight and prunes no doubt, I Wish I'd slept and gone Without! I wonder if eight is still alive, And did the babe in two arrive? Not yet. They wait for us it seems, I saw that poor man in my dreams- The tiger tattooed on his arm Cried out and caused extreme alarm To the fair lady on his shoulder, Vlfho never grows a minute older. Five operations new today And not a special on, they say. One of them a Caesarian, too, Condition poor and baby blue. Some list of orders for the night! Five rooms already show a light, Please answer them and I will see If all is well in twenty-three. Twelve o'clock! And charts piled high, Now to record-what is that cry? Quick nurses, help! Our typhoid Greek Has stripped himself and with a leap Toward fourth floor window makes a dash. A chair goes over with a crash! Our modest head has snatched a sheet And tries to drape the hero fleet. But he eludes her with a lunge. A long armed nurse makes a quick plunge And saves our Spartan from disaster. lVhy can't that interne wake up faster? Ah, here she comes, still half asleep, A potion orders, We must keep Close watch in here, and out she goes. Our patient sinks into a doze. But first he tells the nurse to rest, Invites her kindly as his guest- There's room enough and some to spare, VVhy sit all night in that hard chair? 44

Page 45 text:

Rules We Would Like To Establish Night nurses get two hours sleep every night Separate apartments for night nurses away from noisy day I'lLlI'SCS. To have eight hour duty. .. To have something beside carbohydrates foi our meals Late permission granted at any time. To have Sunday morning breakfast served in bed No classes or lectures at night, or on P. NI Study hour but once a week. Nurses take the rings from the bath tubs betore they leave Nurses get all extra time spent on duty. No deliveries or emergencies at night. A week-end at least twice a month for student nurses IMAGINE .- N- l-iss Miss Kiss Kiss v- Liss Kiss 4- Kiss Miss Kiss A GIRL LIKE THIS lXIusselman's eyes. Abbott's lips. McConnell's voice. Meal's nos-e. Milnor's hair. Fincller's personality. Ahlstrom's figure. Seif's disposition. VVeisman's generosity 43

Page 47 text:

She thanks him with a pleasant glance, And watches meanwhile for the chance To slip away where duties call. She hears a soft step down the hall- Ye Gods! Does our Caesarian walk? No time for idle talk or thought, She takes her gently by the arm And leads her safely back from harm. Thank Heaven! It is the other bed. Did I get up ? she faintly said. The nurse has tucked her in just right, Adjust the window, shade and light. Takes the Caesarian's pulse once more, And smiles to hear the special snore. Poor weary lady, truth to tell She slumbers loud, but all is well. Nurse starts upon her rounds once more, A long, white night-shirt sweeps the Hoor, The Turk sees her and scurries back, Returns again all swathed in black, His mind on operation pending. The longest night must have an ending. So while the world is lost in slumber, And moon and stars look down in wonder The Ship of Illness is protected, No cry of need has been neglected. So thinks the nurse in her warm bath, Ere overtaken by the wrath Cf a curt voice over the 'phone. Return at once! Your work's not done! To dress again and cross the street Un aching and rebellious feet, To say room thirty slept all night And P. T. R. are normal, quite, XVhich everbody knew before Had been the case for a week or more. XVell, discipline, we must maintain, Tonight we start anew again! Exhaustion soon will take its toll, From ten to live, repose my soul! 45