15

Advantages

The proportions of student nurses mentioning different advantages or attractions of the career are shown in Table 10.

(Percentages add to more than 100 because more than one answer could be given.)

That nursing is a worthwhile job and useful to the community is the most frequently mentioned advantage. This was also of greatest importance amongst working women and schoolgirls.

That nursing is a career, that it offers possibilities of getting on, doing different things and meeting different people, are also frequently mentioned.

In replying to this question nurses gave on the average, more answers than did the working women and schoolgirls. Also a higher proportion of the latter groups, knowing less about nursing, were unable to give any answer. It is difficult, therefore, to assess the relative importance of different advantages to the three groups if percentages are based, as in the table above, on the number of informants questioned. In Table 11, percentages have been based, therefore, not on the number of people asked but on the number of positive answers given. (Answers classified as “miscellaneous” have been excluded.)

Three advantages, living a communal life, the effect nursing has in making one broadminded, adaptable etc., and that the pay is good when training is finished, are mentioned only by student nurses. The fact that nursing is a career and that there are possibilities of getting on is thought more important by nurses than by the other groups. On the other hand, that nursing is a “worthwhile” job and useful to the community is of more relative importance in the answers given by schoolgirls and working women. Without knowing very much about nursing it is possible to say this much about it, and it should be mentioned here that 34% of the student nurses, 27% of the working women, and 46% of the schoolgirls gave this reply.

The idea that knowledge is gained in the training period which will be useful in life afterwards or in marriage is of much more relative importance to working women and schoolgirls than to the student nurses themselves.

These results suggest that there are some advantages of the profession which are not much thought of by those outside it, and it might be worthwhile to point out in publicity the possibilities of promotion and of doing a variety of different jobs when trained, the advantages of a communal life, and perhaps the effect that nursing has in broadening experience and developing capabilities.

From another point of view it would be of use to stress the humanitarian aspect, that nursing is a worthwhile job and necessary to the good of the community, the satisfaction in seeing patients get better, and so on. This is already appreciated by the public, and is evidently a very great attraction of the job.

Analyses of the answers given by different groups of nurses again show only a few small differences.

Of third and fourth year trainees, 25% and of first and second year trainees, 16% mentioned the advantage that nurses meet a variety of people and see life from many different angles. The standard error of the difference between these two results is 4% and the difference is, therefore, significant.

A somewhat higher proportion of nurses in voluntary hospitals than of those in municipal hospitals gave this answer, 23% as against 12%, and again the difference is statistically significant.

The effect of becoming more broadminded, adaptable, etc. is mentioned by 10% of those with secondary or high school education, and 5% of those with elementary education. (S. E. of difference = 2.5%)

Otherwise there are no statistically significant difference in the proportions mentioning various advantages in the different groups.

16 17

Disadvantages

The disadvantages mentioned by student nurses were as follows:

Lack of freedom and long hours of work are the disadvantages most frequently mentioned. 18% mentioned the difficulty of keeping up other interests, keeping in touch with the outside world and having a satisfactory social life. Complaints about off - duty arrangements (5%) were concerned mainly with the inconvenience of the hours allowed and uncertainty about which hours would be beforehand.

To compare the answers given by nurses with those given by working women and schoolgirls the same arrangements have been adopted as with the advantages. Percentages are based on the number of disadvantages given instead of on the number of people questioned.

In the minds of the working women and secondary schoolgirls the hard work and long training and the bad pay rank as important disadvantages, and account for 39% and 50% of the answers given by the two groups respectively. However, these form only 18% of the disadvantages mentioned by student nurses.

It was shown by the previous inquiry, that 56% of working women and 33% of secondary schoolgirls had not heard about the increase in nurses’ salaries resulting from the recommendations made by the Rushcliffe Commission. To some extent, therefore, the idea that “bad pay” is a disadvantage one has to put up with in nursing is based on ignorance as to the real conditions. This could no doubt be remedied by publicity.

That nursing is hard work is less important amongst the disadvantages mentioned by nurses. Nurses might be expected to have a different point of view about this. It is widely known that nursing is hard work compared with some other occupations and those who have chosen to take it up as a profession would be less likely to count this among disadvantages.

Long hours form a high proportion of the disadvantages mentioned by all three groups. Lack of freedom and numerous rules are felt more strongly by the nurses themselves than by those outside the profession, and the tendency for nursing to overwhelm other interests ard limit social life is very little realised by those who are not nurses.

Fear of unpleasant sights, blood, and so on, is an objection raised only by the working women and schoolgirls, though it will be remembered that a small proportion (5% ) of the student nurses said that they were afraid they might be upset by such things when they decided to become nurses.

Analysis of the answers given by nurses at different stages of their training shows some small differences in the proportions giving the most frequently mentioned disadvantages

The lack of freedom and rules are more irksome to nurses further on in their training. Bad pay is mentioned more frequently by first year trainees, whose salaries are, of course, lower. This difference, though small, is statistically, significant, The difference in the proportions saying there is no room for other interests is of doubtful significance.

A significantly lower proportion of nurses in their second year of training complained about the long hours of work.

Lack of freedom is mentioned by 28% of nurses aged 21 and over as against 18% of those aged under 21.(S. E. of difference = 4%)

“No room for other interests” is given by 21% of nurses with secondary and high school education, but only by 12% of those with elementary education. (S. L. of difference = 4%).

The difficulty of studying in off - duty time is not mentioned by a significantly higher proportion of nurses with elementary education than of those with secondary education. Of the former, 17% and of the latter 11% gave this answer. The standard error of the difference is 3.5%. It is possible that a significant difference might have been shown had the sample been larger, but it could only be a small difference.

A slightly higher proportion of nurses in voluntary hospitals than of nurses in municipal hospitals mentioned bad pay,

Summing up the analyses made of advantages and disadvantages mentioned it may be said that, there is very little difference in the replies given by different groups of nurses. Nurses in voluntary and municipal hospitals, those with and without higher education, and nurses of different ages and at different stages of their training, all give the same sort of answers and the differences in the proportions that have been noted are nearly all small differences only.

18 19

Further ideas about nursing

It will be remembered that nurses were asked what doubts they had in their minds about nursing when they decided to become nurses (Section II). Following on this question they were asked “Which things turned out better and which worse than you expected?”

In considering these results it should be remembered that the sample is a sample of nurses who had so far survived, and that there is no information about the experience of those who having tried nursing had given it up.

Half the nurses found nothing about nursing to be worse than they had expected, but three quarters had found some things or one thing better than they had expected.

Community life and the companionship of other nurses had come as a pleasant surprise to a quarter of the nurses interviewed. It will be remembered that 11% of the nurses mentioned this as one of the advantages of nursing as a career, but that it was not mentioned at all by the working women and secondary schoolgirls whose opinions were sought in the previous inquiry. It was noted in the last section that the advantages of community living and companionship might be pointed out in publicity appealing for recruits. 9 % of nurses complaining of lack of social life and contact with the world outside hospital may be set against this result.

About the same proportion of nurses found the work harder than they expected as found it easier. However, only 9% had mentioned this as a disadvantage of the job as against 16% saying that it was worse than they expected. It will be remembered that the hardness of the work and drudgery was important amongst the disadvantages mentioned by schoolgirls and working women.

A somewhat higher proportion had found the restrictions and discipline of hospital life more irksome than they had expected than had found them to be less so, and it will be remembered that lack of freedom was the disadvantage most frequently mentioned by nurses.

9% had less and 4% more difficulty than they anticipated in studying and exams. Living conditions and food were found better than had been expected by 11% worse by 5%. Only 3% mention that the responsibility was greater than they had supposed, but 14% said the work was more interesting.

A small proportion of nurses who had expected to dislike the sight of blood and other sights they might meet with in hospital had found that they got used to them and did not mind them. Nurses who continued to be upset by such sights, however, would probably give up nursing soon after trying it and so would not be represented in the sample.

There are only a few small differences in the proportions giving different answers in different groups.

The most considerable of these is that 61% of nurses whose fathers were in manual occupations as against 45% of nurses with fathers doing non-manual work said that nothing turned out to be worse than they had expected, or that they had known what to expect. (S.E of differences = 6%).

That studying for exams had proved less difficult than was anticipated was mentioned by 4% of first year trainees as against 12% of nurses in subsequent stages of their training. There are no differences in the proportions saying that studying had proved harder than had been expected in this respect. Of second, third and fourth year trainees 5% and of first year trainees 1% said that the pay was better than they had expected.

Some difference with regard to studying for examinations might be expected between different education groups. Such differences are however small. A higher proportion of those with elementary education than of those with secondary or high school education mentioned the subject of studying in answer to this question. However, more of them said they found studying easier than they had expected than said they found it more difficult.

There are, in fact, no statistically significant differences between the proportions of those with elementary and those with secondary education who answered that they had found studying easier or that they had found studying more difficult than they had expected.

A slightly higher proportion of nurses in voluntary hospitals than of nurses in municipal hospitals found the working hours more trying than they had expected, 11% as against 5% respectively. (S.E. of difference = 2.5%). Otherwise there are no statistically significant differences between the proportion of these two groups giving various answers.

Analysis by age groups shows no statistically significant differences.

20

Opinions on Rushcliffe Improvements

Nurses were asked “What do you think of the recent changes made in nursing conditions?”. Specific changes were not mentioned by the interviewer. 63% of nurses commented on the increased rate of pay, and 51% on the reduction in working hours and better arrangements for off-duty. 19% mentioned holidays, 5% living conditions. 7% miscellaneous changes and 6% said they did not know of any changes.

The opinions given about the increased rate of pay are shown in Table 16 below.

There is perhaps not very much difference between the answers “Very good” and “It’s an improvement”. The second type of answers however, does not necessarily imply so much satisfaction, and so such answers were classified separately.

11% thought, that the increase was insufficient and that a greater increase should have been made.

One-third of the nurses did not comment on the increased rate of pay.

Opinions about the changes in working hours and. off-duty time are shown in Table 17.

Owing to shortage of staff the Rushcliffe hours’ had not been adopted everywhere and many .nurses replied that the new hours would be good when they came into operation.

Some nurses mentioned that having one full day off-duty per week was a great help and others generally of the reduction in working hours as being beneficial.

Altogether 44% of nurses expressed approval in the reduction of hours (including those who had not yet had any decrease) as compared with 37% expressing approval of the increase in pay.

About half the nurses made no comment on the reduction in hours.

Other changes besides those in pay and hours were not mentioned by sufficient nurses to admit of statistical analysis of the opinions given.