Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1938, Blaðsíða 174

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Icelandic nurses frequently go abroad for further training in for-
eign hospitals and often exchange with their colleagues in Scandinavia,
hut they also go to England and there are even instances of Icelandic
nurses visiting the U. S. A.
It is not so customary for the midwives to go abroad as for the nurses,
but they fully intend to follow their example and seek experience
farther afield.
There is no school for physio-therapeutics in Iceland, hut the mas-
seurs can get their practical training in the clinics of the specialists in
this branch of medicine. Most of the masseurs who have been officially
recognised have completed their training in foreign schools for phvsio-
therapeutics. The same applies to dental technicians.
IV. Associations of Medical Practitioners and other
Sanitary Officers.
The Icelandic medical profession is organised in one association The
Medical Association of lceland. The Reykjavík Medical Association is,
however, more influential and it publishes the official organ of the
medical profession, The Medical Journal (Læknablaðið), a monthly
puhlication which was founded in 1915. There is another medical
society in Akureyri, the Akureyri Medical Association. Dentists and
veterinary surgeons likewise have their own societies, The Dentists’
Association of Iceland and The Association of Icelandic Veterinari]
Surgeons; the pharmaeeutical chemists have The Pharmaceutical
Chemists’ Association of Iceland and the dispensing chemists who
are in the service of others have formed The Association of Dispensing
Chemists in Iceland. The midwives have likewise The Icelandic Mid-
wives’ Association and the nurses The Association of Icelandic Nurses.
The two last named associations each publish a monthly periodical,
The Midwives’ Journal (Ljósmæðrablaðið), and The Nurses’ Journal
(Hjúkrunarkvennablaðið). The committees of all the above-mentioned
associations, except that of the Akureyri Medical Association, are in
Revkjavík. 1'he associations are run on lines similar to those of like
societies in other countries, i. e. each of them looks after the interests
of its own profession. Since the introduction of general sick-insurance
in the towns, the medical associations especially have got important
parts to play in negotiating for the terms of their members when
working for the sick insurances.
V. Hospitals and other Sanitary Institutions.
The Number of Beds in Hospitals.
There are just over 1.100 sick beds in all the hospitals of the
country, or approximately 1 bed for each one hundred persons of