An Unusual Student Organization

Abstract

T started, like most of our bright ideas, at the cafeteria dinner table. Here we were, a large group of student nurses at Elmhurst General Hospital, without a school organization. Why not do something about it? That's just what we did; a small group of us discussed formalities, and the next day a notice appeared the bulletin board announcing a mass meeting of the student body. But let's go back the beginning. The hospital is a large new building in a pleasant residential section of metropolitan New York. Among its educational facilities is an unusual school which provides a year of affiliation for students from hospital schools of nursing operated by the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene. The schools include Brooklyn State, Craig Colony, Manhattan State, Rochester State, St. Lawrence State, and Willard State. The school is unusual in many ways. First, all the students are in their second year-one big junior class, without freshmen down on or seniors to look up to. Our first and third years are spent at our own home schools, but since our education must include all the varied experiences which go into making a well-rounded professional nurse, we affiliate at a general hospital for a