The trained nurse has fortunately come to stay. In fact, our antiseptic
methods as above described have made the trained nurse indispensable.
The old nurse, who, by many clumsy experiments on her patients,
had obtained a certain rule-of-thumb knowledge of the care of the
sick, can no longer assist in a surgical operation or properly care
for any surgical patient. The modern nurse must of necessity be a
well-educated, well-trained woman, knowing thoroughly modern antiseptic
methods, and on the alert to observe every symptom of improvement and
every signal of danger.
Without a well-trained nurse it is impossible at the present day
properly to care for any serious surgical case, and I gladly bear
witness to the intelligence, fidelity, and skill of scores of nurses
who have assisted me, and without whom I should have felt as one blade
of a scissors without its fellow.