University of Maryland School of Nursing - Pledge Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 11 text:

As the school grew, we heard that a new home for the nurses was to be built. We were to receive 358.00 a month, and furnish our own uniforms and books. After the new home was completed, we had more room and more comforts. The chapel was made into a sitting room, where occasionally we had music, or a dance, and the Little Lady In White would occasionallyjoin in the merry-making. . . . From the University Hospital Nurses' Alumnae Bulletin, 1925, p. 11. 7

Page 10 text:

In an account given by one ofthe original fivel' probationers, she states ofthe first day We Went on duty-the longest day I ever spent in my life. I had never been in either a women's or men's ward, but afterwhile the Little Lady in WVhite', came in and told us to straighten up the beds and make the wards tidy. XVe did not know Whether there were patients or not, but somehow We got through the day. My next move was to the Medical VVard with its wooden beds and soiled linen, dirty Walls and windows and floors. I was glad to be where I could be occupied. The orderly was good-naturedntbout helping me, and I started in to Wash Window sills, tables, chairs and anything that I saw which was not clean. The beds had been made up by a convalescent, so I put off cleaning them until the next dayf, . . . From the University Hospital Nurses' Alumnae Bulletin, 1925, p. 8-10. 6 .

Page 12 text:

Entering nursing was self-sacrifice and self-denial, the giving up of one's home and devoting your life to the service of others. Nurse-doctor relationship was to be strictly professional. Nurses were forbidden to have social conversation with medical students or doctors and to see them after hours was just out of the question. However, twenty graduated with me and four married doctors. Even the telephone conversations were censored when the coding was discovered. S.O.M.P. meant same old meeting place. Then there was trusty Wilbur, a night orderly who conveyed notes for nurses and doctors. One night he was hailed by the medical superintendent as he made rounds, and asked Wilbur where he was going. I was asked to get some specimen bottles from the lab. Excuse me, Doctor, I have to coughf' He turned around and coughed and swallowed the note. Paper eater Wilbur saved the nurse's neck and the incident re- mained a standing joke for some time. The unfortunate nurse to be caught was punished by a night duty stretch, special duty, or suspension oflate leavesf, . . . From the University of Maryland Nurses' Alumnae Association Bulletin. Vol., 38, 1959-1960. Pages 47,48 S