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We Can Do SomethingAuthor(s): Gloria ThompsonSource: The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 62, No. 6 (Jun., 1962), p. 12Published by: Lippincott Williams & WilkinsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3452080 .

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LETTE FIS pro and con

We Can Do Something

Editor: I'm sure we were all shocked to hear

and read of the horrible accident which occurred at the Binghamton, New York, hospital. It seems there is a simple solution to preventing further such inci- dents.

A small portion of each batch of for- mula made should be set aside to be tasted. This would make the accident of substituting salt for sugar an im- possibility in the future.

I think, as nurses, we sometimes get so involved with complicated proce- dures that we overlook simple methods of preventing such horrible accidents. As a new mother myself, I can under- stand exactly how those mothers must feel. It is our responsibility to be sure this never happens again.-GLORIA THOMPSON, R.N., Calif.

Another Side to Time Clocks

Editor: I have just read the letter from the

Florida nurse (April issue) who felt degraded at being asked to punch a time clock.

Speaking from personal experience, I know it has nothing to do with trusting the nursing personnel, or it need not have. In our situation we were asked to change to this method of timekeeping to coordinate our hospital with other county agencies. When we did, one or two nurses voiced some resentment. It soon became evident that this was not only a simple means of keeping rec- ords but it gave us a record of the hours of overtime and extra days worked when emergencies occurred. This was far more convincing than any verbal report of nurse shortage.

Surely, professional nurses can ac- cept the need to go along with business office procedures while we are asking administrators to work with us on im- proved policies and salaries. Let's save our energies for important issues.- CHARLOTTE WEBSTER, R.N., Mich.

. Many hospitals which have in- stalled the time clock system for nurses were horrified to learn how many extra

hours the professional nurses were giv- ing to the institution in the name of duty to their profession. Armed with such concrete evidence the hospital ex- ecutive is able to present to the board the need for more nurses or subsidiary workers to help prevent this injustice. In general, no nurse will walk out on work to be done, without proper relief. But why should they work overtime and get old before their time?--RTH C. CROSSLEY, R.N., Calif.

. While there is certainly nothing particularly alluring in the practice of punching time clocks, some considera- tion surely should be given to other as- pects of the problem.

Hospitals today are large scale enter- prises, often involving budgets which run into millions of dollars. Administra- tors in charge of these funds are ex- pected to account for them with rec- ords which will support detailed audits. Time clock records help in this.

In addition, the nature of nursing, now numbering hundreds of thousands, surely somewhat resembles a cross sec- tion of the population. There are those who can be trusted, and those who cannot. Should those who can be trusted mind too much the process of making it possible to check upon those who cannot? Failure to check could mean the waste of untold amounts of money sorely needed for more critical uses. In my opinion, we should be will- ing to make this difficult accounting problem as manageable as possible. Automated bookkeeping is not an un- reasonable measure.-AGNES E. SALIS- BURY, R.N., Fla.

. . . No doubt you have already re- ceived objections to reader Beardmore's opinion of nurses who don't refuse to punch a time clock. Perhaps rather than "disinterested" and "unintelligent" we are cooperative. This will carry nursing much farther than protesting such a small matter.

Recently I worked in a small hospital which employed a large percentage of part-time nurses, myself included. With the advent of a time clock, the work

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12 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NURSING

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