The real-life Sherlock Holmes and forces to change nursing forever
Queen’s Nurses back in business
Elementary, my dear Arthur: Surgeon’s skills
The most notable of the characters whom I met was one Joseph Bell, surgeon at the Edinburgh Infirmary.
He was a very skilful surgeon, but his strong point was diagnosis. He often learned more of the patient by a few quick glances than I had done by my questions.
In one of his best cases he said to a civilian patient, “Well, my man, you’ve served in the army.” ”Aye, sir.”
”Not long Christian Guthrie Wright, Louisa Stevenson and Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s rebellious fourth daughter, had already established the Edinburgh School of Cookery – teaching nutrition and cookery.
Bell was involved from the outset as vice-president setting up the institute’s Scottish branch. Under
discharged?’” “No, sir.” “A Highland regiment?” “Aye, sir.’ ‘A non-com officer?” “Aye, sir.” “Stationed at Barbados?” “Aye, sir.”
“You see, gentlemen,’ he would explain. “The man was a respectful man but did not remove his hat. They do not in the army, but he would have learned civilian ways had he been long discharged. He has an air of authority and he is obviously Scottish.
“As to Barbados, his complaint is elephantiasis, which is West Indian and not British”.
To his audience at Watsons it all seemed very miraculous until it was explained, and then it became simple enough. his influence Queen’s Nurses in Scotland could only undertake midwifery, public health and district courses after three years’ hospital training. This was not required in England for large numbers of village nurse midwives. For Bell they were the Queen Bees – supremely qualified. They had to be for the challenging work of district nurses in cities and in the remotest islands.
And they flourished – by 1900 there were 200 of them in post and by 1940 more than 1,000, paid in the pre-nhs era by nursing associations mainly funded by charity appeals.
Like Holmes, Bell had interests in chemistry, handwriting and accents. With his friend Henry Littlejohn, he offered forensic medical advice in murder cases.
Bell was also a devout churchgoer and family man – his hair turned white after the death of his wife Edith in 1874.
He was one of the first in Edinburgh to have a telephone and a motor car. He also served as a physician to nurses working at the Institute’s training home in Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, and its convalescent home.
On his death in 1911, fellow doctor Charles Douglas recalled: “Joe Bell was so many sided. The children, the women patients, the nurses all loved him for his kindness, his quick and ready sympathy, no one of them more so than she who knew him so well, his right hand through his long service, his beloved staff nurse, Jeanie Dickson on whose judgment he relied far more than on that of most of his residents.” Queen’s Nurses are now back in Scotland – highly-trained leaders at the sharp end, providing care and leading change across the country.
In the book he wrote for nurses and dedicated to Nightingale, Bell urged: “Cultivate absolutely accuracy in observation and truthfulness in report.” Holmes would have approved. The modern-day equivalents of Joseph Bell’s “supremely qualified Queen Bees” are back up and running in Scotland after an 80-year absence.
The Queen’s Nurse award – dropped in 1969 after the introduction of a national certificate for district nursing – was relaunched two years ago by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS). Nurses noted for clinical expertise and compassionate care were selected to take part in the QNIS nine-month development programme. There are now 41 taking on the challenges of modern healthcare in Scotland’s cities and remote islands. Among the latest to achieve the title is Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) and mum-of-four Cathanna Smith, 52, who is based in Tarbert, Argyll. Cathanna, from Stornoway, was inspired to become a nurse after a stay in hospital aged three and had already completed her Registered General Nurse training in 1984, qualifying as a midwife five years later.
It took a further two years of study at Stirling and West of Scotland universities to become an ANP, which qualifies her to carry out much of the work done by a GP.
She said: “Joseph Bell would be delighted to see the level to which his Queen’s Nurses have developed, although he may be a little surprised it has taken so long.
“I am very proud to be a Queen’s Nurse today. “Since I became a QN I have done a Masters module in teaching practice supervision which means I have a role in supporting students to become General Practice Nurses. “Being a QN gave me the confidence to do that.”