Concepts of Nursing

Concepts of Nursing (A Symposium)

What are the basic concepts of the SDA view of nursing?

Various authors. 

An interesting chapel service was con­ducted at Washington Missionary Col­lege recently when the department of nursing education, under the leadership of Mrs. Edyth James, presented a symposium on Seventh-day Adventist concepts of nursing. Mrs. James introduced the program by explain­ing the accompanying diagram, which hung above the platform, and which pictured our understanding of nursing. (See page 28.) She went on to say :

"Education is the harmonious development of the spiritual, mental, and physical powers. This is the development of the head, the hand, and the heart, and results in the science, the skill, and the spirit of nursing. This is a preparation for service to the individual, the family, the church, and the community. The service includes health education—instruction on how to keep well—prevention and allevia­tion of disease, care of the sick, and finally spiritual restoration." The nurses on the plat­form further interpreted this concept of nurs­ing in its three phases—prevention of diseases, treatment of disease, and finally the spiritual restoration of the sick.

I. Prevention of Disease—Health Education

After discussion of the local college health problem, STELLA MAE BEAUCHAMP, R. N., re­cently returned from India, and dressed in the costume of the Parsi, said:

"So many opportunities present themselves in our health work in India that it is difficult to know where to begin. First, we emphasize the importance of fresh air and cleanliness. Many people live in dark rooms with scarcely any air, thus encouraging the development of disease. We can do much by pointing out the importance of fresh air and sunshine.

"Secondly, we stress the value of an adequate diet, especially for the small children. Some­times we find mothers giving their children red-hot peppers in order to accustom their mouths to the highly spiced diet of the people. They also use a great deal of fat in their diet, which helps to some extent to counteract the effect of the spices, but an excess of fat is unde­sirable, too.

"I might tell you about a little girl who came from a Christian Indian community. She had two very serious abdominal operations in our hospital. I had the pleasure of visiting her after she recovered from her operation, and observing the way the mother was carrying out our instructions in regard to diet and the gen­eral care of the child. This mother very proudly showed me the wholesome food she had prepared. This is one way in which we have been able to help these people learn the meaning of healthful living."

Ella May Stoneburner, R. N., of the Col­lege health department, says:

"It seems to me that a great deal has been done by our nation in the prevention of infec­tious diseases, especially for children, but not enough has been done in formulating healthful practices in everyday living. True, we do hand out much literature for people to read, but many times they do not practice the principles set forth in the material given to them. In our contacts we endeavor to live out the practices we should follow in our daily living, such as proper rest and sleep, and adequate diet. We also try to point out the harm in smoking and drinking. This is an important field for health education because so many doctors do not stress the harmfulness of tobacco and alcohol. We need more nurses who will bring these vital truths to patients and other people.

"Now that there is a strong health depart­ment in the college we find that students seem to be more health conscious than they used to be. This year many students have appreciated the facilities offered them, and have come for treatment in the first stages of a cold. If every individual would practice simple health rules, how much better our health would be !

"I believe the lack of sunshine, fresh air, and exercise is the vital cause for much of the sick­ness among the student body. Too many have the mistaken idea that the exercise they get at work in the mill or print shop or in walking between classes is sufficient to keep them well. But to be of greatest benefit our exercise should be taken out of doors. I believe that we as a denomination should be just as outstanding among the peoples of earth in the matter of health as were Daniel and his companions. If each of us would take the individual responsi­bility, first, of keeping himself well, and then by his example teach others, we could spread these vital truths far and wide."

II Prevention and Alleviation of Disease

GERTRUDE GREEN, R. N., who has served in China, continued with the second phase of the discussion on disease alleviation. She said:

"We do not have to go outside the United States or around the world to know that there is disease in every country. But in some for­eign countries there is more than we have here in America. In the China field many medical institutions have been established, and there is great need for many more in that vast land. In some countries which are controlled by Great Britain or America, government hos­pitals are established, but not so in China. We have only mission hospitals. If it were not for the mission hospital, there would be prac­tically no medical work except that done by the Chinese themselves.

"The hospital in which I worked before re­turning to America is a thousand miles inland, and is the place where our medical work first began. We have a fine hospital unit there con­sisting of three buildings. The bed capacity is sixty-five, but we never had less than one hundred and twenty patients, and usually there were up to two hundred, and even as high as three hundred. I suppose you are wondering where we put them all. If you were to visit that place, you would see. The halls, and sometimes even the front porch, were filled with patients. We had to give up the nurses' dining room and classroom in order to make a ward for more patients. Our beds consisted of saw horses with three boards laid across them. But the patients were glad for even this accommo­dation, and some were willing to sleep on the floor, if we would take them in for treatment.

"One morning when the doctor and I were making rounds, we went into the basement, where we had a small room containing fifteen beds. As we were making our way along, I noticed that there was a patient on a bed across the hall in the furnace room, down there with the coal. I asked the nurses where the patient came from, and said, 'We can't put patients down here in this dirty place. How are we going to take care of them ?'

"But the patient looked up at me and said, 'Oh, please let me stay. I have taken six days in order to get here. They wanted to turn me away, l'ut I told them I would not go home until I received treatment. This was the only place left. Please let me stay.' You can imagine my chagrin, after having reprimanded the nurse for putting the patient there.

"In our treatments we used hydrotherapy very extensively. After the war began, we had many bomb victims to care for. Our fa­cilities were meager, but we did the best we could. Many more lives could be saved if only we could impress upon the Chinese people the value of transfusions, but they will not give one drop of blood to save anyone else's life.

"I want to say a word for the Red Cross. If it had not been for the Red Cross we would not have been able to accomplish as much in our mission station as we did. Millions of people had been made homeless by the war, and sev­eral thousands of them filtered into our village. They had no work and no homes ; so it became necessary for the missionaries to see that these people got something to eat. The Red Cross said that if we would see that these people were fed, they would provide funds with which to buy the food.

"The first day sixteen thousand people came out at four o'clock in the morning to get their first meal. It was almost impossible to think about feeding that many people every day ; so we divided them into two groups and had five to eight thousand come every other day. In this way they were fed only every other day, but they were thankful for that. If it had not been for the funds given by the Red Cross, we would not have been able to feed these people.

"We need nurses who are well drilled and qualified to meet the rigid demands of mission life. The harvest truly is great, but the labor­ers are very few."

III. Spiritual Aspect of Nursing

The chapel hour was concluded with a discus­sion of the possibilities for spiritual ministry. CORDIE LEE SMITH, R. N., led out in this.

"Before a complete picture of nursing can be gained, we must speak of that part which makes us different from other nurses. With the aid of the Great Physician we are able to do more than relieve physical pain. We are commissioned to combine the health of the soul with that of the body. Mrs. E. G. White says: 'Medical missionary work is the right hand of the gospel. It is necessary to the ad­vancement of the cause of God.' We are medical missionaries, and there is no greater work than being the right hand of the gospel. 'Every nurse is to be a channel of blessing, receiving light from above.' In the hospital the nurse has specific spiritual work to do. We are able to meet patients on the most intimate grounds. We are able oftentimes to utter a simple prayer by the bedside that does much good. There are many ways of carrying on this work."

Marjorie Vaughn, R. N., night supervisor at the Washington Sanitarium, whose husband is studying in the theological department of the college, spoke of the opportunities they have had through the year.

"This year we have had some interesting experiences in connection with our student efforts. My husband, who was with one of these efforts, started by including health lec­tures in the meetings, but we soon found that we were in difficult territory. We decided then to teach home nursing to the women in the community. One woman opened her home to us, and we have had very good success. We gained their confidence and they came to us with their health questions, but we still felt a burden to give the full gospel message. After praying over the matter, we decided to turn the home nursing class into a Bible class. Through this Bible class, which continued for three months, we contacted more people than we did in some of our meetings. Through one of our members the way was opened for us to give Bible studies in a community church. We feel that we have proved the words of the messenger of the Lord:

"'The Lord has ordained that Christian physicians and nurses shall labor in connection with those who preach the Word.' Medical missionary workers and workers in the gospel ministry are to be bound together by indissol­uble ties. Their work is to be done with fresh­ness and power. Throughout our churches there is to be a reconversion and a reconsecra­tion to service.' "

 Finally, Fern Forshee, R. N., formerly su­perintendent of nurses at the Tokyo Sanitarium in Japan, spoke briefly of overseas medical missionary work.

"It would be much more difficult to work in the foreign fields if it were not for the medical missionary work. It has broken down preju­dice, and in addition to this, many souls have been brought into the truth as a direct result of our medical missionary work. I should like to relate just one experience.

"Two girls came to our training school in Japan, one of whom was trying to get into the nurses' course. I asked her why she came, and she replied, 'You nurses are all so kind, I want to come to this hospital.' She had no recom­mendations at all, but I had her fill out the ap­plication blank. When she came to the word 'Religion' she stopped. I asked her, 'Are you a Christian?' She shook her head.

"Are you a Buddhist?"

"'Are you a Shintoist?' Again she shook her head.

"Then she looked at me and said, 'I am a heathen.' So on her application blank under 'Religion,' she filled in 'Heathen.'

"Just before graduation I had the privilege of seeing these two girls buried with their Saviour in baptism. We never urged it at all, but in our teaching we tried to bring out the principles of Christianity. Somehow those girls got a glimpse of what it means to be a true Christian. We like to think that it was the influence of the hospital that caused the girls to be baptized. I can truthfully say that the medical work is the right arm of the message."


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Various authors. 

September 1942

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