Clara S. Weeks-Shaw

“ Do not make the common mistake of confounding cold air with pure air. You may keep the room at any desired temperature, and still have the atmosphere perfectly fresh; or you may lower the temperature to any extent without removing a particle of the poisonous impurities with which the air is laden. Keep your patient as warn by means of external appliances as his comfort demands, but never shut out the fresh air. Fresh air can only come from outside the house. Opening a door into a passage or an adjoining room, itself imperfectly aired, is not ventilation. ”

“ You have but to spend a few days in one room to become painfully familiar with every petty detail of its furnishing, and such variety as may be obtained from a glimpse out-of-doors will often afford an infinite relief. ”

“ Ventilation is the displacement of impure by pure air. To secure this, there should be two apertures to the room, one for the egress of the foul air, and one for the admission of fresh air. The best possible arrangement is that of an open window and an open fire-place. If you do not wish a constant fire, keep a lamp burning at the mouth of the chimney to create a draught. Arrange a blind or screen so that the air will not blow directly upon your patient, and you may keep the window open day and night without danger of chilling him. ”

“ Noise which is understood and inevitable is far less annoying than would be a much slighter noise, unexplained or unnecessary. Intermittent is more hurtful than continuous noise. Sudden, sharp, and jarring sounds are especially to be avoided. Manage, if possible, to have the room over your patient unoccupied. Modern houses are so slightly built, and their vibrations so trying, that, unless you can so arrange, you will often find it better to put your patient at the top of the house, in spite of the fatigue of the stairs. ”

“ Milk is the only article of diet which contains in itself all the essential elements of nutrition. It is, therefore, the only thing upon which you may allow your patient entirely to subsist for any length of time. The most concentrated forms of food are to be preferred, such as convey the greatest amount of nourishment in the smallest bulk. ”

“ The sick-room should be on the sunny side of the house, and have plenty of windows. Only in exceptional cases, such as inflammation of the eye or brain, is it necessary to have the room darkened, and even then a south room, with the light carefully moderated by blinds and curtains, is to be preferred to a darker one on the north side. In the majority of cases, light, and not only light, but direct sunshine, is to be desired, not only for the additional cheerfulness which it gives, but because of its actual physical effects. Sunlight is a powerful remedial agent. ”

“ Perfect freedom from anxiety and cheerful surroundings are as essential for his mental, as are free ventilation, absolute cleanliness, and nourishing food for his physical, well-being. These are the elements of good nursing, and surely they are within the reach of all. ”

“ Never permit yourself to judge the temperature of the room by your own sensations or by those of your patient. Hang the thermometer as nearly as possible in the center of the room—at all events, neither against a chimney in use or the outer wall. The one will be hotter and the other colder than the mean temperature, which is what you wish to have registered. This should be, unless you have contrary orders from the physician, about 68° Fahr.
The necessity for absolute cleanliness can not be too strenuously insisted upon. Dusting can only be efficiently done with a damp cloth. ”

“ There are few, especially among women, upon whom will not devolve, at some time in their lives, the care of the sick; fewer still who will not at some time become dependent upon such care; and it might naturally be supposed that matters of such primary and universal importance as sanitary conditions and the practical application in the sick-room of scientific principles would be too familiar to every one to need to be further enlarged upon. ”

“ Stationary basins should never be used in the sick-room. The perfect system of house-drainage has yet to be invented, and the danger from leaky and defective traps is so great that the only safe way is to avoid them altogether. If you have such arrangements in the room which you propose to devote to your invalid, cork up the overflow holes—or, better, stop them with plaster-of-Paris—and fill the basin with water, which must be changed from time to time, or cover it entirely with a board. ”

“ A capful every two hours is more easily managed by weak digestive organs than would be a large meal three times a day. When a table-spoonful can not be taken hourly without distress, you may give successfully a tea-spoonful every quarter of an hour. The idiosyncrasies of each individual case must be considered. Regularity is, however, always important. When you do not feed your patient again until morning, it is well to give him some light and easily assimilated nourishment the last thing at night. ”

“ If it pleases the eye, it has a much better chance of proving acceptable to a delicate appetite. You can at least have the dishes spotlessly clean, and dry on the outside. Have hot things hot, and cold ones very cold. To successfully cater to the capricious appetite of an invalid requires the faculty of observation, judgment, and no little ingenuity; but it is worth the exercise of them all, for in most cases the question of nourishment is more important than that of medicine. ”

“ Physicians are recognizing more and more the importance of hygienic agencies in the treatment of disease, and with this there has come an increasingly urgent call for the scientific instruction and practical training of those who are to take charge of invalids. Science explains the conditions upon which the art of the nurse depends, and lays down principles which can not be violated without injury ”

“ Very heavy or very much emaciated patients, and those suffering from affections of the brain, are particularly liable to these. It is often advisable, especially where a bed is prepared for long occupancy, to put next to the under sheet one of rubber, covered with a second folded sheet, or draw-sheet. This can be easily and frequently changed with but very slight disturbance to the patient. The bed-coverings should be such as are warm without being heavy, as their weight is often found oppressive. In some cases even slight pressure is unendurable. ”

“ If you have a helpless patient to feed, do it slowly, and avoid unmanageable quantities. It requires attention and care to do this well without making an external application of it. Fluid food is most easily given, and with the least exertion on the part of the patient, through a bent glass tube. ”

“ Whatever you give, be sure that it is the best of its kind—milk perfectly sweet, eggs above suspicion. Remember that you have more than the ordinary fastidiousness to contend with, and never offer a sick person anything which you have not, previously tasted yourself, and so feel absolutely sure of. ”

“ A large amount looks so discouraging that it destroys the appetite for even a little. Take away promptly what is not eaten. It is worse than useless to leave it in sight in the hope that it will soon be wanted. ”

“ All bedding should be frequently renewed, and always well aired and warmed before being used. If you have a patient entirely confined to bed, it will add greatly to his comfort if you can give him two beds, each provided with its own complement of sheets, blankets, etc. ”

“ That a carpet or wall-paper of set pattern, or anything else presenting regularly recurrent figures, is objectionable, does not need to be suggested to any one who has ever been beset by the counting and classifying fiend who so often takes possession of the invalid left with no occupation for his vacant mind beyond such as is suggested by the objects within his limited field of vision.
Let the room be as cheerful as possible in its aspect. Flowers are quite permissible. Growing plants are better than cut flowers. ”

“ Many slight and apparently unimportant noises, which are nevertheless peculiarly annoying to the sensitive nerves of the sick, may easily, with a little care and forethought, be entirely done away with. ”

“ The ordinary methods in vogue simply serve to transfer the dust from one spot to another. Removal, not distribution, should be the object in view. The room can only be thoroughly swept and cleaned when the patient can be moved out of it for a time ”

“ Fresh air, may, however, be admitted to the sick-room through an adjoining apartment, first thoroughly ventilated. This is sometimes the best method of procedure. It requires, of course, more care to keep a small room well aired without objectionable draughts than a large one. ”

“ Neglect in this particular will give rise always to much discomfort and sometimes to serious troubles in the form of pressure-sores—which are extremely difficult to cure, but nearly always preventable by care. ”