Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing - Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 11 text:

SLEEPER’S MESSAGE Dear Seniors: As always when I am away from home I tend to listen to new ideas and methods with the School and you in my mind. Would the new idea be workable at home? Would it improve our program? Would you, as students, benefit? And most important of all would it enable you to learn to give better patient care? At a recent meeting which I attended in Geneva, at the World Health Organi- zation. nurses from nine different countries drew up a description of the kind of professional nurses needed in all countries throughout the world. Many of the characteristics described you already know. 1 his nurse was to be well prepared through general education and in nursing. She was to be a teacher of patients, auxiliary workers, and community groups. She was to be well adjusted in ber living, her work, her relationships with others, and one who would use her educa- tion to make the necessary changes when the situation warranted. But two other characteristics in this description seem especia Hy appropriate at this time when you commence a new era in your careers. First, that the kind of nurse needed everywhere should be one who had developed a sense of personal and professional responsibility. And second, that this nurse sh ould h ave the capacity for. and the will to seek, continual growth and educational development. In a way these two are similar for one who possesses personal and professional responsibility will wish to continue her education to be adequately prepared tomorrow as well as today. You, who have achieved your diplomas, have tangible evidence that this neces- sary capacity is yours. Whether without continuing supervision and guidance you will have the will to seek further growth will be your problem. As you leave the School, you leave behind the educational program planned for you. You have in a sense grown from adolescence to adulthood in nursing education. What you learn now as an adult is your responsibility. Education is a conscious process. It is not just a matter of going to school, to receive what others have planned for you. Education must be actively sought. Opportunities hereafter will continue to lie in the daily work assignment, the daily reading and recreation. But the quest for them will be yours. May you have the vision to see the opportunities which will have value for you. May you have the determination to reach upward and outward for the new opportunities which will bring continuing growth. Success and happiness to each one of you from all the Faculty. Ruth Sleeper T

Page 10 text:

RUTH SLEEPER. R.N., M.A. Director of the School o| Nursing and Nursing Service

Page 12 text:

Helen Church, A.B.. A.M C ounselor Anna Viden, R.N. Supervisor of Residences and Lav Personnel Eva Hicks, R.iS. dministrative Assistant Jesse Stewart, R N„ B.S. Assistant Director of the School of Nursing and Chairman of the Diploma Program 8