Notable Women of Modern ChinaBurton, Margaret E. (Margaret Ernestine)
History
Notable Women of Modern China
Burton, Margaret E. (Margaret Ernestine)
China -- Biography; Women -- Biography
At first the people were afraid to submit to operations, but the doctor's
marked success with those who permitted her to operate soon overcame their
fear. The results of her skilful use of the knife have been most marvellous
to them. That a young woman of over twenty, who could not be betrothed
because of a hare lip reaching into the nose, with a projection of the
maxillary bone between the clefts, could be successfully operated on and
transformed into a marriageable maiden, seemed nothing short of miraculous.
Nor was it less wonderful to them that an old woman could, by an operation,
be relieved of an abdominal tumor from which she had suffered for sixteen
years, and which, when removed, weighed fifty-two pounds. "The people
appreciate surgery more and more," reads one of Dr. Stone's recent letters.
"A lot of the tuberculosis patients who have seen the quick results from
operations want me to operate on their lungs."
Another large department of Dr. Stone's work has been the training of her
nurses. This has been an absolute necessity, for, as Dr. Stone said: "When
I found I had to run a hospital with accommodations for 100 beds, and an
out-patient department with sometimes 120 patients a day, I at once found I
had to multiply myself by training workers. These workers I selected from
various Christian schools with good recommendations as to qualifications. I
do not dare to take into training any one who has failed as a teacher or in
any line of work, because nursing is an art still in its embryo. To succeed
in this profession one must not only know how to read and write, but also
know arithmetic and some English."
The course of study which Dr. Stone gives her nurses is about the same as
that prescribed by the regular training schools, or hospitals, in America.
To do this she has had to translate several English text-books into
Chinese for the use of her students. The reliable and efficient nurses who
have completed the course and are now her trusted assistants in all her
work, have amply repaid her for all the time and labour she has expended
upon this part of her work.
In an article on "Hospital Economics" she speaks of the efficient service
of these nurses:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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