NERF Nursing Oral History Project 1950s/1960s

Abstract

Phyllis Paul

Recorded: / 3 DEC 2012 / File: 1 of 5
Interviewer: / Debbie Dunsford
Abstracter: / Debbie Dunsford
Equipment type: / Fostex FR-2LE Digital Recorder
Photo 1 / Photo 2 / Photo 1: Phyllis Paul 3 December 2012.
Photograph: Debbie Dunsford
Photo 2: Phyllis Paul, Student Nurse, 1952-1954.
000'10" / INTRODUCTION
PHYLLIS EVELYN (NEE NELSON) PAUL. Born HASTINGS 1 July 1933. Father's name ALFRED EDWARD NELSON. Born GISBORNE. Father went to work at 13 years old as a kauri BUSHMAN in NORTHLAND, COROMANDEL, GISBORNE. Became a BUTCHER later [OCCUPATION]. Phyllis recalls as a child witnessing father's strength and familiarity with use of dynamite when felling trees. Mother's name MYRTLE ALICIA (NEE DYNES) NELSON. Born in LEESTON in South Island. Grandfather grew up in CHRISTCHURCH area, worked as an engineer on the RAKAIA Bridge and on the WEST COAST. Wanted to become a FARMER so moved to a series of farms including KING COUNTRY and WARKWORTH.
004'40" / PARENTS' MARRIAGE & FATHER'S WORK
Describes how parents met. MYRTLE worked in hotel in WARKWORTH and ALFRED stayed there for his work. Married in FRANKLIN. Grandfather had sold WARKWORTH farm and moved to HAMILTON. Parents moved to COROMANDEL for father's butchering work. Began butcher's business in DEPRESSION but did not continue. Did bush work. Moved to GISBORNE area, worked in FREEZING WORKS at TOLAGA BAY, TOKOMARU BAY. Mentions DEATHs of first children. Moved to GISBORNE, two sons born there. Then to HASTINGS where he was a BOARD WALKER/ASSISTANT FOREMAN for FREEZING WORKS. PHYLLIS and younger brother born HASTINGS. Became FOREMAN of the BORTHWICKS WAINGAWA freezing works in MASTERTON (biggest in country at time). Phyllis grew up in MASTERTON.
007'08" / FAMILY STANDARD OF LIVING
Thinks family had a good STANDARD OF LIVING. Had a car, a few acres of land. Describes animals including cows for milking. Children had chores around property.
008'39" / MOTHER'S RED CROSS WORK IN WORLD WAR 2
Mother joined RED CROSS. Father was 41 and had 4 children so didn't go to WORLD WAR 2. BORTHWICKS put in ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY claim. Father disappointed but was sergeant in HOME GUARD. Mother really enjoyed being a VAD. Looked after JAPANESE PRISONERS OF WAR from nearby camp. Describes nurses not being able to wear medals while in war and always guarded. AMERICAN SOLDIERS also stationed at MASTERTON. Mother brought nurses home from hospital and 'I was always impressed by them because they always seemed to be smiling and laughing and telling stories'. Influence on her becoming a nurse. Describes RED CROSS uniform with veil and red cross. Mother's younger sister was a nurse trained at WAIKATO and WHANGAREI (HOSPITALS). Father's brother went to war and married a Welsh nurse during the war. Phyllis very impressed by her.
012'30" / EDUCATION
Attended MASTERTON CENTRAL SCHOOL [EDUCATION]. Recalls first day at school. SECONDARY SCHOOL was WAIRARAPA COLLEGE (1947-1949). Went by bicycle [TRANSPORT]. Did a commercial course because mother thought she would work in an office and then marry. Describes professional, commercial and home science courses.
015'30" / FIRST JOB
Applied for CADETSHIP at PUBLIC TRUST but 'they preferred a boy'. Describes. Offered job with the DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Enjoyed FARMING content of job.
Describes becoming aware of NURSING as a possible CAREER. Applied and accepted. Describes parents' reactions. 'Dad said "oh, you'll never cope with it".'
018'00" / ACCEPTANCE FOR NURSING
Was a little young to begin training but accepted because her mother had worked at the hospital. MASTERTON HOSPITAL had good pass rates. Describes MEDICAL EXAMINATION.
Describes reaction to her resignation of MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE. REFEREES would have been Mr MCFARLANE, CHIEF CLERK OF MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE in MASTERTON, and neighbour Mr HENDERSON.
021'30" / FIRST DAY AND UNIFORMS
Nursing students came from MASTERTON, FEATHERSTON, WELLINGTON, PAHIATUA, TAKAKA. One MAORI student. Describes backgrounds of some. All aged late teens. Describes UNIFORMS. When passed JUNIOR STATE EXAM could purchase a MASTERTON HOSPITAL blazer.
Describes changing UNIFORMS between being on the ward and off it. Difficult to do this and go for meals within 30 minutes. INFECTION CONTROL. Thinks non-ward UNIFORMS were light blue in first year, then white after that. Refers to CHRISTCHURCH HOSPITAL UNIFORMS which were known to be very formal with black stockings and aprons. The uniforms helped make CHRISTCHURCH distinct. It 'had a great name for a nursing training school'. Comments that nurses from the smaller training schools were also very proud of them.
029'00" / CLASS SIZE, FRIENDSHIPS AND HIERARCHY
Small class and they were great friends. Adjustments included loss of privacy. During first six months, student nurses stayed in small army-type huts with four to a building. Then moved up a step to OLD NURSES' HOME. HIERARCHY very strict. Could never walk past anyone senior to yourself. 'Some of those senior girls used to just delight in walking down the corridor as slow as they could so that we couldn't go past them.'
032'10" / PRELIMINARY TRAINING SCHOOL & WARD WORK
First six weeks learning basic nursing skills. Taught respect for PATIENT privacy and dignity. Lectures included some ANATOMY and PHYSIOLOGY. Refers TUTOR SISTERS, Sister ADAMS and Sister (?) SMITH.
Describes JUNIOR NURSES' tasks. Panning of PATIENTS and in the sluice room. Hard work. Describes cleaning pans inside and out and stacked ready for MATRON's round at 11 o'clock. Damp and high dusting. Describes how difficult to do everything in time. Sponged patients but not much other "nursing" work at the time. Distributed meals to patients. Describes. WARD SISTER's role to dish meals out.
039'35" / LEARNING ON THE WARD
Remembers TUTOR SISTERS as being good. But learned a lot on ward from watching seniors. Learned from them informally how to deal with people/patients. Recalls shock the first time she watched a senior nurse remove sutures from a surgical patient's wound. Describes. Second year nurse could remove sutures. Third year nurse could give out drugs.
Very little help with CLEANING at MASTERTON. Junior nurses did most cleaning jobs. 'We just accepted this is what you do.'
043'03" / LEAVING NURSE TRAINING
Sat JUNIOR STATE EXAMINATION. Some in class discontented with nursing and a number left. Describes some reasons including hard physical work, shift work, curfews. Recounts incidents that led to her deciding to leave nursing and trying HAIRDRESSING [CAREER]. Recounts going to MATRON and resigning, then to HOME SISTER who said 'Nurse Nelson, I'm just going to put your uniforms aside because I know that you'll be back'. Another girl took six months leave.
Recalls how HAIRDRESSING was not satisfying after nursing. After six months decided to return. Too proud to return to MASTERTON in class behind her friends. Describes meeting PATTY PATITI at a party. She was latest GOLD MEDALIST nurse from WAIRAU HOSPITAL, BLENHEIM, and recommended WAIRAU. Phyllis wrote to Miss (?) WYNN at WAIRAU and was accepted. Started April 1954. Able to go away from home, had somewhere to live, had a job and money. SECURITY. Two cousins in MARLBOROUGH were in AIR FORCE.
052'48" / DIFFERENCES WAIRAU AND MASTERTON HOSPITAL
Impression that WAIRAU better equipped with instruments. Atmosphere homely. MATRON Miss WOOD lovely. Worked six days a week. Miss WOOD rostered girls who lived out of town so they could visit home every six weeks. Phyllis would fly to WELLINGTON in a DEVON aircraft and be picked up by family. Strict rules, formal midday meal in dining room. Describes.
FILE ENDS 56 MINUTES 24 SECONDS.
Recorded: / 3 DEC 2012 / File: 2 of 5
Interviewer: / Debbie Dunsford
Abstracter: / Debbie Dunsford
Equipment type: / Fostex FR-2LE Digital Recorder
000'26" / CURRICULUM
CURRICULUM included MEDICAL NURSING, SURGICAL NURSING, MEDICAL PROCEDURES and PROTOCOLS, DIET. Four examinations. Recounts how she achieved HONOURS in DIET in STATE FINAL EXAM. Comments on one tutor being 'old-fashioned, we thought, and she was very dictatorial... and we were starting to get a bit liberal by this time'. WAIRAU a little less strict than MASTERTON. Everyone liked the main TUTOR SISTER AILSA SMITH [nick name SMITHIE].
At WAIRAU, each class had one STUDY DAY per week away from wards. Reasonable links between study and practical. Contrasts with MASTERTON. Attended lectures by doctors during shifts.
004'48" / MATERNITY
MATERNITY/OBSTETRIC NURSING was a separate training then. Maternity hospital in BLENHEIM was HOMEDOWN. CAESARIAN cases to WAIRAU HOSPITAL.
Usual pattern was to do six months MATERNITY training after STATE FINALS. Explains how her HUSBAND did not want her to do NIGHT DUTY so did not do that training.
CURRICULUM changed around that time. Brought OBSTETRICS into three year programme. Thinks less on DIET. Explains that intended doing training but circumstances prevented.
006'55" / COMMUNITY NURSING DURING TRAINING
Went out with DISTRICT NURSES. Recalls visiting RAI VALLEY and WAIRAU VALLEY. 'An eye-opener.' Refers to VENOUS ULCERS. She and friend decided they would go DISTRICT NURSING and then overseas. 'Anyway, we both met a man and that all went by the board.'
007'00" / WORK AFTER MARRIAGE
Married after registered and returned to work at WAIRAU as STAFF NURSE. Recalls SOCIAL ATTITUDES to working after marriage in 1957. Describes how enjoyed being STAFF NURSE in SURGICAL WARD. Did not have responsibility of WARD SISTER but no longer a student. Some time for socialising. Does not recall talk about need for CURRICULUM CHANGE during her training.
009'29" / COOK HOSPITAL, GISBORNE
Describes FAMILY LIFE, birth of CHILDREN, move to GISBORNE.
Interruption to interview with dog.
Worked five days a week at COOK HOSPITAL in afternoons. Describes WORKING HOURS and CHILDCARE arrangements, FAMILY FINANCES. Saved enough to return to BLENHEIM.
Differences COOK and WAIRAU. BLENHEIM had TB SHELTERS but COOK had two wards full (30 each ward), more than twice as many TB patients. GISBORNE served a large area. Very high percentage of TB patients was MAORI. Other wards similar. Training school, students there. One sister and self as staff nurse only trained staff on afternoons. Describes duties. Describes a terrible incident: NURSES BALL and ACUTE APPENDICITIS case. THEATRE STAFF called but didn't arrive. Their two THEATRE SISTERS involved in car accident, one killed. AMBULANCE. Huge emotional impact on staff. Two ENGLISH girls working in NZ.
Reflects on her teaching of student nurses. Not confident but taught them practical things. Automatic. HIERARCHY still there but maybe not as strict as WAIRAU. Possibly afternoons were more low key.
017'12" / SHIFT STRUCTURE
At MASTERTON, shifts were 6-2, 2-10, 10-6. Recounts doing the 'night runner' duty which included waking morning duty nurses at 5.15am. KING GEORGE VI died in 1952. Recalls knocking on nurses' doors and saying 'Good morning nurse, it's 5.15 and the King is dead'.
At WAIRAU, shifts were 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. Some changeover time. Always asked permission to finish shift. Still expects staff to report to her today before leaving. Describes early routine on MORNING SHIFT. WARD SISTER would hand over report. Current practice is that each nurse reports on their patients to the nurse coming on shift.
021'05" / PATIENT CARE
Explains how the more acute the patient, the more senior the nurse. Patient care changed with POLYTECHNIC training in the 1970s. Moved to one nurse providing all of a patient's care. Earlier, care was task orientated rather than patient orientated. For example, the junior nurse would wash all the patients or do all the back care. Individual care plans developed. Describes.
023'30" / DOCTOR AND NURSE WARD RELATIONSHIPS
Always addressed CONSULTANTS as 'Sir' and JUNIOR HOUSE DOCTORS as 'Doctor'. Stood with hands behind backs. Describes inter-relationships on wards. WARD SISTER had total control of the ward. 'We trained the house surgeons.' WARD SISTER and CONSULTANT relationship still quite formal. Explains forms of address.
026'25" / EXAMS
Hospital EXAMS every six months. Had to pass hospital exam before could sit SENIOR STATE EXAM. Explains. Describes how some failed exams and sat again. Phyllis received results while at home in MASTERTON preparing for WEDDING.
028'40" / SMALL HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE & PATIENTS
WAIRAU was a small GENERAL HOSPITAL. Comments on variety of her experience while training. Recalls a severely BURNED PATIENT before he was moved to BURNS UNIT at HUTT HOSPITAL.
Recounts raising money for a NURSES' CHAPEL through hairdressing for long-term patients. One of these patients was Mrs STEVENSON from UPCOTT with a FRACTURED FEMUR. Another patient had BOWEL CANCER and appreciated having her hair done. Describes conditions that required lengthy hospitalisation [FRACTURES, HYSTERECTOMY, MENISECTOMY]. Phyllis required her nurses to give PHYSIOTHERAPY exercises because of high risk of DVT [DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS]. Disadvantage of a small hospital was that too few PHYSIOTHERAPISTS. Ongoing treatment responsibility of nurses. CANCER patients in hospital a long time. No CHEMOTHERAPY, MORPHINE given for pain.
035'15" / CHANGES IN EQUIPMENT, TECHNIQUES, DISEASE
Describes MORPHINE preparation. Describes change in INTRAVENOUS LINE insertion technique. INTRAVENOUS FLUIDS went from glass bottles to plastic bags. SUCTIONS changed.
Has seen all the childhood diseases [DIPHTHERIA, WHOOPING COUGH, POLIO]. Comments on how that experience informs INFECTION CONTROL work now. Recalls fear of having to perform a TRACHEOTOMY on DIPHTHERIA patients. MEASLES and MUMPS both serious diseases.
Recalls POLIO EPIDEMIC while a student at MASTERTON COLLEGE. When came to WAIRAU, another POLIO EPIDEMIC. Two wards of mostly adult patients. Describes IRON LUNGS which were noisy and 'quite frightening'. Recalls a young polio patient who later studied MEDICINE and returned to WAIRAU as a HOUSE SURGEON.
041'38" / EMOTIONAL ASPECTS
Recalls own sheltered experience before nursing. Nurses discussed ward events in NURSES' HOME. Senior nurses helped. No formal preparation for DEATH. If upset might go into SLUICE ROOM or STERILISING ROOM.
043'42" / CHANGES IN EQUIPMENT & TECHNIQUES
Describes boiling and sterilising surgical trays and EQUIPMENT. Dressings hand-prepared. Cut GAMGEE into different sized dressings and packed into drums to be sterilised. Folded linen by hand. Student nurses learned by doing everything many times. Today, nurses learn but don't have to do it. Nurses today have more knowledge than they did.