Medicine: Wife Material

Why is there a shortage of nurses? The California State Senate Committee, investigating the problem in Los Angeles, last week heard a disarmingly simple explanation: nurses make such good wives.

“Registered nurses are prime wife material,” reported Dr. Donald Cass gravely, “because the same emotional and psychological urges which lead them into the nursing profession make them excellent wives and mothers. Only about 20% of all graduate R.N.s follow their profession for any considerable length of time. They tend to be snapped up by sensible young men. A nurse learns to care for other people’s pains, instead of spilling out her own problems. She takes to family life like an old hen taking over a brood of chickens. It’s no wonder there’s a nurse shortage.”