Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing - Lamp Yearbook (Dayton, OH)

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Eye Department YE NURSING as a special nursing service was first established in August, 1939, following the appointment of a full time eye supervisor, Miss Bernice Casey. With the increased specialization in ophthalmology, the specialists felt the need of anurse with post-graduate experience in eye nursing to organize and supervise a special program of nursing care for these patients. Eye nursing was first offered as an elective service to student nurses in April, 1940. Experience in post-operative care of eye cases, special treatments and procedures used in eye conditions has contributed much toward making the student nurse more aware of the importance of intelligent and thorough eye nursing. The growth of this field is indicated by an increase of one hundred and fifty percent in the number of cases treated in the past four years. Diabetic Department DIOPATHIC! To physicians this word seemed to cling to diabetes. As early as two years before Columbus discovered America, Paracelusus recorded certain urinary characteristics of this disease. By 1889 the pancreas was definitely known to control the sugar metabolism. Still people continued to starve, lose weight and finally die. It was not until 1921 when Banting and Best discovered Isletin that a treatment other than the starvation diet could be used to control diabetes. There followed many years of experimenting until today we have protamine zinc insulin, zinc insulin crystals and regular insulin. The diabetic education of a diabetic patient is essential. One of the medical staff members became interested in the treatment of this disease and in 1934 established the diabetic department. In July, 1935, Miss Martha Werner was appointed diabetic supervisor after she had post-graduate experience in diabetic nursing. The department now consists of two diabetic nurses with post-graduate experience and astudent nurse. Since diabetes is a metabolic disease, diet plays an important role in its control. The dietetic department, in cooperation with the diabetic supervisors, plans and serves all meals and teaches diet therapy to diabetic patients. Orthopedic Department IVE PERCENT of all patients admitted to The Miami Valley Hospital in 1940 were orthopedic cases. Due to the large number of orthopedic cases and the large amount of mechanical equipment involved in the treatment of such cases, an orthopedic supervisor became necessary. In July, 1940, an orthopedic supervisor was appointed to assist the orthopedic surgeons, to organize and supervise a program of nursing care for these patients, and to establish a central supply room for the mechanical equipment. One of the newest mechanical devices added to this department is the Albee-Comper table which is used in applying body casts. Orthopedics is not a special service to be practiced only on the orthopedic ward but its principles should be applied to general nursing. Students receive orthopedics as a service to gain a specialized knowledge and skill in the nursing care of such patients but they are expected to apply these principles to the prevention of crippling conditions on all patients. We are fortunate to have a separate building, Whitmore, for the care of state, public, and private crippled children. The bed capacity is twenty-eightg divided into three wards, one for boys, one for girls and one for cleft palate cases. 4- 57 +A

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The Department of Nutrition I-IE DEPARTMENT of Nutrition is honored to contribute to The Lamp through a review of pleasant relations with the entire student body during the past ten years. The first year student continues, as during the previous decade, to receive basic knowledge and practice in nutrition and cookery. However, a fifteen hour course in lectures, in addition to thirty hours of laboratory, have been revised to eighteen hours of lecture, as well as thirty-two hours of laboratory. Ten additional problem hours for the entire class provide the opportunity for each nurse to compute her own nutritional requirements, to observe exhibits 3 to study results in experimental animal feeding, and to make cost studies. Following the basic course as outlined, diet therapy is begun in the third quarter of the first year and is continued into the second year. Diet therapy is not taught as a separate course but is an in- tegral part of the Medical and Surgical Nursing course. The instruction in diet therapy presents dietary management of the medical or surgical condition coincident with the material presented by the physician, surgeon, or nurse instructor. Students have a period of six weeks diet therapy practice. These nurses are assigned to specific patients for whom diet therapy is a dominant requirement. Con- ferences concerning every phase of such patient,s progress are an important part of this period. Following service, charting is done by student nurses under the ward dietitian's supervision. Food values oH'ered to, and taken by, the patient are included in the patient's record. Practice in cooking and weighing foods for metabolic patients is accomplished by individual assign- ment. The major part of food for metabolic patients is prepared by hospital cooks in order to utilize the regular menu insofar as possible, which definitely establishes the corrective diet as a modification of the normal diet. Electrically heated, insulated food conveyors meet the requirements of this situation. Addi- tional equipment including scales completes the portable metabolic unit. . Lectures are contributed by the Pediatric dietitian to the Courses in Pediatrics, and Obstetrical Nurs- ing. Other lectures totaling fifteen hours are contributed by the staff dietitians to the course entitled Nursing and Health Service In The F amilyf' An hour during the Professional Adjustments Course is devoted to a presentation of ideas and methods for carrying out teas and parties. Food Service for other informal entertaining is suggested. Modern food conveyors have replaced the former trucks which required re-heating of food in steam tables in the serving pantries. The new type food service allows closer supervision by dietitians from the time these conveyors leave the main kitchen until they are returned after each meal. Dietitians carry responsibility of the tray service in all divisions of the hospital. The range of supervision for teaching student nurses is thereby extended. To meet the requirements of a broader curriculum and an increased service, the Department of Nutrition has increased its staff by two. At present, there are two administrative dietitians, one post- operative, and one pediatric and obstetric, in addition to the two ward dietitians. The ward dietitians teach nutrition in classes for diabetic patients, and teach in diet therapy situations. The dietitians' par- ticipation in experiments within the dietary department, and in research carried on by staff physicians, is significant of the place of nutrition in modern medicine. In conclusion, the dietitians wish to congratulate the student body for their splendid activities and advancements in their profession, May we extend, also, our best wishes for a brilliant future. 4- 59 as