Philadelphia Osteopathic Hospital School of Nursing - Cranium Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Edgar O. Holden. A.B.. D.O. Superinieuaent

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Margaret C. Peeler, Ph.B., R.N. Directress of Nursing 7

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From time to time letters reacK my desk expressing appreciation of services rendered and treatment received in our Hospital. Not a few of sucK m issives refer specificalfy to tfie thorough and wholesome attention, the warmth and the personal touches experienced in the hands of our nurses. When a patient enters the Hospital he is, of course, apprehensive but, at the same time, he is certain that he is as safe as it is humanly possible to make him. He gives those to whom his case is entrusted his complete confidence. He trusts his physician to carefully study his disability and to prescribe the treatment which will help nature restore the health balance. When an interne gives him a treatment or when a nurse gives him medicine he does not question the propriety of it, whatever it may be. He takes it for granted that it is that which was ordered and that it is given in the manner prescribed. If he is taken to surgery he literally stakes his life on his faith in the entire staff. He trusts the nurses to be alert and competent, to see that the surgeon is not placed under any handicap by inexpert help. I sometimes wonder whether, in the hum-drum or, on the other hand, in the rush of affairs, we are able to fully realize the perspective of the patient in the picture. It is reasonable to assume that the patient will be more impressed with the hotel feature of the service than the professional side because he is more familiar with it than with the intricacies of modern hospital equipment and the advanced practices of modern medicine. And so it follows that he is very apt to judge a hospital by the comfort of the bed occupied, the quality of the food served and the interest shown in his well-being by those with whom he comes in direct contact. It is with respect to the latter angle that I am pleased to pay tribute to our nurses. They are fulfilling effectively a prime consideration in the hospital-patient relationship. In many respects a grasp of the social and ethical requirements on the part of the nurse transcends in importance her technical or scientific understanding of a case. Native ability, early training, instincts, cultural attainments, all go to equip the good nurse for her duties. It is a source of satisfaction to those charged with the administration of the Osteopathic Hospital of Philadelphia to be in a position to estimate to a fair degree, and better yet to commend it, the very fine service that the nurses in this Institution are rendering in behalf of suffering humanity. Edgar O. Holden. Superintendent.