Making Good on Private Duty | Page 8

not. Sick people are as sensitive as babies to the subtle influence exerted by the one who is so constantly over them. If you are in full health and strength, your rubbing will be quieting and effectual, your very presence, if you are careful and gentle, will be soothing. On the contrary, if you yourself are suffering and are using the nervous force you ought to be giving your patient in hiding your own malady, your presence will not be so eagerly welcomed; your patient will not know what is the matter, but she feels rather a relief when you are absent. Going to a case feeling perfectly well, the next thing is to keep well.
Be careful about your eating. Your meals will of necessity be often irregular, that is unavoidable, but eat only wholesome things. Do not eat candy; and at dinner, which you will probably have in the evening after the family are through, avoid patties, and rich puddings, ice cream, and such like. You will always find plenty of plain food and fruit in the most luxurious homes; eat these and let the rest alone. If you want to keep your stomach and whole digestive apparatus in good order, you must care for it, and not overtax it. If you have a pretty good stomach it will bear a good deal of abuse, but in the end it will grumble, and a dyspeptic nurse is not an attractive object. As to your night suppers, which you should always have, should your case require constant watching, I would recommend plenty of coffee, tea, or cold milk, if you can drink it, bread and butter, cold meat and fruit. Never eat candied fruits, cake, or pies at night. Have eggs if you care for them, and pickles if you like. Remember, the plainest food, the most easily digested, the most nourishing is what you must have. Believe me, you will be rewarded for the temperate use you make of all the dainties you see, by a clear complexion, and good color, which will make you "good to look at," especially good for a sick person to look at.
As to the nurse's night toilette, it is quite a problem sometimes as to just what is best to wear. When the patient is not ill enough for the uniform to be retained for night duty, the nurse should be comfortable enough so that she can sleep; yet dressed enough for any emergency. I think a house gown of pretty material much neater than the kimono. Be sure this fits about the shoulders, and never have loose flowing sleeves. A white frill in the neck looks very trim, and is always becoming. The corset and all tight clothes should be removed, stockings and underwear kept on. The hair should be arranged simply, but not allowed to hang in a loose braid, unless you are very sure you will not see any but the patient, and even then it may be unwise, as a braid of hair has an exasperating way of slipping from its proper place (hanging down the back) and dipping into whatever you are stooping over. Dressed thus, with night shoes to protect the feet, one can lie down on a lounge and sleep very comfortably, being freed from tight clothes, and yet being entirely presentable, no matter what happens. To undress regularly and put on the diaphanous low-necked short sleeved night dress of the present mode, and go to bed, when you are sure you will have to get up one or a dozen times during the night is not good judgment, I think. You get out of a warm bed, and if you only put on your shoes and stockings, your patient must wait while you do it. If anything serious occurs suddenly, you either run the risk of taking cold from being insufficiently clad while doing what must be done, or your patient must wait while you dress--both bad.
Never get into bed with your patient. This seems to most people a quite unnecessary caution, but it is the commonest experience of the successful nurse, that a woman, feeble and nervous, should ask and almost insist that she shall lie down by her, or get into bed with her. I always wonder that a sick woman can not realize that she is not a pleasant bed-fellow, but she seldom does. Of course you are not to tell her that she is not fit to sleep with, but you can say that she needs and ought to have the whole bed to herself, and you will sit by her and hold her hand, or if she insists on it, you can lie down, with your house gown on, on the outside of the bed, being careful to give her