Part 64 (1/2)

1002. Does the nurse require knowledge and practice in her employment, as well as the physician? Who is the natural nurse of the sick? 1003.

What, then, is inc.u.mbent on every girl? 1004. Should there be schools to educate nurses, as well as physicians and surgeons?

1005. BATHING. The nurse, before commencing to bathe the patient, should provide herself with water, two towels, a sponge, a piece of soft flannel, and a sheet. The temperature of the room should also be observed.

1006. When the patient is feeble, use _tepid_ or warm water. Cold water should only be used when the system has vigor enough to produce reaction upon the skin. This is shown by the increased redness of the skin, and a feeling of warmth and comfort, after a proper amount of friction. Before using the sponge to bathe, a sheet, or fold of cloth, should be spread smoothly over the bed, and under the patient, to prevent the bed-linen on which the patient lies from becoming damp or wet.

1007. Apply the wet sponge to one part of the body at a time; as the arm, for instance. By doing so, the liability of contracting chills is diminished. Take a dry, soft towel, wipe the bathed part, and follow this by vigorous rubbing with a crash towel, or, what is better, a mitten made of this material; then use briskly a piece of soft flannel, to remove all moisture that may exist on the skin, and particularly between the fingers and the flections of the joints. In this manner bathe the entire body.

1008. The sick should be thoroughly bathed, at least twice in twenty-four hours. Particular attention should be given to the parts between the fingers and toes, and about the flections of the joints, as the acc.u.mulation of the excretions is most abundant on these parts.

In bathing, these portions of the system are very generally neglected.

The best time for bathing, is when the patient feels most vigorous, and freest from exhaustion. The practice of daubing the face and hands with a towel dipped in hot rum, camphor, and vinegar, does not remove the impurities, but causes the skin soon to feel dry, hard, and uncomfortable.

1005. What should a nurse provide herself with, before bathing a patient? 1006. When should cold water be used? 1007. How should the bathing then be performed, so that the patient may not contract a cold? 1008. How often should a sick person be bathed? What is said of daubing the face and hands merely with a wet cloth?

1009. FOOD. It is the duty of every woman to know how to make the simple preparations adapted to a low diet, in the most wholesome and the most palatable way. Water-gruel,[24] which is the simplest of all preparations, is frequently so ill-made as to cause the patient to loathe it. Always prepare the food for the sick, in the neatest and most careful manner.

[24] Directions for making the simple preparations for the sick are found in almost every cook-book.

1010. When the physician enjoins abstinence from food, the nurse should strictly obey the injunction. She should be as particular to know the physician's directions about diet, as in knowing how and when to give the prescribed medicines, and obey them as implicitly.

1011. When a patient is convalescent, the desire for food is generally strong, and it often requires firmness and patience, together with great care, on the part of the nurse, that the food is prepared suitably, and given at proper times The physician should direct how frequently it should be taken.

1012. PURE AIR. It is the duty of the nurse to see that not only the room is well ventilated in the morning, but that fresh air is constantly admitted during the day. Great care must be taken, however, that the patient does not feel the current.

1013. Bed-linen, as well as that of the body, should be aired every day, and oftener changed in sickness than in health. All clothing, when changed, should be well dried, and warmed by a fire previous to its being put on the patient or the bed.

1009. Should every woman know how to make the simple preparations adapted to a low diet? 1010. Should the nurse strictly obey the injunctions of the physician relative to food? 1011. What period of a person's illness requires the most care in regard to the food? 1012.

Give another duty of the nurse. 1013. What directions respecting the bed-linen of the patient? What is necessary when there is a change of clothing?

1014. TEMPERATURE. The warmth of the chamber should be carefully watched by the nurse. The feelings of the patient or nurse are not to be relied on as an index of the temperature of the room. There should be a well-adjusted thermometer in every sick-room. This should be frequently consulted by the nurse.

1015. The temperature of the sick-chamber should be _moderate_. If it is so cold as to cause a chill, the disease will be aggravated. If, on the other hand, it is too warm, the patient is enfeebled and rendered more susceptible to cold on leaving the sick-chamber. The Latin maxim, ”_In medio tutissimus ibis_,” (in medium there is most safety,) should be regarded in the rooms of the sick.

1016. QUIET. The room of the patient should be kept free from noise.

The community should be guided by this rule, that no more persons remain in the room of the sick, than the welfare of the patient demands. It is the duty of the physician to direct when visitors can be admitted or excluded from the sick-room, and the nurse should see that these directions are enforced.