Notes on Nursing | Page 6

How very seldom you see a nurse who acknowledges by her practice
that nothing at all ought to be aired in the patient's room, that nothing at
all ought to be cooked at the patient's fire! Indeed the arrangements
often make this rule impossible to observe.
If the nurse be a very careful one, she will, when the patient leaves his
bed, but not his room, open the sheets wide, and throw the bed clothes
back, in order to air his bed. And she will spread the wet towels or
flannels carefully out upon a horse, in order to dry them. Now either
these bed-clothes and towels are not dried and aired, or they dry and air
themselves into the patient's air. And whether the damp and effluvia do
him most harm in his air or in his bed, I leave to you to determine, for I
cannot.
[Sidenote: Effluvia from excreta.]
Even in health people cannot repeatedly breathe air in which they live
with impunity, on account of its becoming charged with unwholesome
matter from the lungs and skin. In disease where everything given off
from the body is highly noxious and dangerous, not only must there be
plenty of ventilation to carry off the effluvia, but everything which the
patient passes must be instantly removed away, as being more noxious
than even the emanations from the sick.
Of the fatal effects of the effluvia from the excreta it would seem
unnecessary to speak, were they not so constantly neglected.

Concealing the utensils behind the vallance to the bed seems all the
precaution which is thought necessary for safety in private nursing. Did
you but think for one moment of the atmosphere under that bed, the
saturation of the under side of the mattress with the warm evaporations,
you would be startled and frightened too!
[Sidenote: Chamber utensils without lids.]
The use of any chamber utensil _without a lid_[6] should be utterly
abolished, whether among sick or well. You can easily convince
yourself of the necessity of this absolute rule, by taking one with a lid,
and examining the under side of that lid. It will be found always
covered, whenever the utensil is not empty, by condensed offensive
moisture. Where does that go, when there is no lid?
Earthenware, or if there is any wood, highly polished and varnished
wood, are the only materials fit for patients' utensils. The very lid of the
old abominable close-stool is enough to breed a pestilence. It becomes
saturated with offensive matter, which scouring is only wanted to bring
out. I prefer an earthenware lid as being always cleaner. But there are
various good new-fashioned arrangements.
[Sidenote: Abolish slop-pails.]
A slop-pail should never be brought into a sick room. It should be a
rule invariable, rather more important in the private house than
elsewhere, that the utensil should be carried directly to the water-closet,
emptied there, rinsed there, and brought back. There should always be
water and a cock in every water-closet for rinsing. But even if there is
not, you must carry water there to rinse with. I have actually seen, in
the private sick room, the utensils emptied into the foot-pan, and put
back unrinsed under the bed. I can hardly say which is most
abominable, whether to do this or to rinse the utensil in the sick room.
In the best hospitals it is now a rule that no slop-pail shall ever be
brought into the wards, but that the utensils shall be carried direct to be
emptied and rinsed at the proper place. I would it were so in the private
house.

[Sidenote: Fumigations.]
Let no one ever depend upon fumigations, "disinfectants," and the like,
for purifying the air. The offensive thing, not its smell, must be
removed. A celebrated medical lecturer began one day "Fumigations,
gentlemen, are of essential importance. They make such an abominable
smell that they compel you to open the window." I wish all the
disinfecting fluids invented made such an "abominable smell" that they
forced you to admit fresh air. That would be a useful invention.

II.--HEALTH OF HOUSES.[7]
[Sidenote: Health of houses. Five points essential.]
There are five essential points in securing the health of houses:--
1. Pure air. 2. Pure water. 3. Efficient drainage. 4. Cleanliness. 5. Light.
Without these, no house can be healthy. And it will be unhealthy just in
proportion as they are deficient.
[Sidenote: Pure air.]
1. To have pure air, your house must be so constructed as that the outer
atmosphere shall find its way with ease to every corner of it. House
architects hardly ever consider this. The object in building a house is to
obtain the largest interest for the money, not to save doctors' bills to the
tenants. But, if tenants should ever become