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.
1017. The movements of the attendants should be gentle and noiseless. Shutting doors violently, creaking hinges, and all unnecessary noise, should be avoided. Most persons refrain from loud talking in the sick chamber, but are not equally careful to abstain from whispering, which is often more trying than a common tone.
1018. It is the duty of the nurse to ascertain the habits of the patient as respects the period for eating and sleep, when in health, that she may prepare the food and arrange the sick-room in accordance with the practice of the patient. 436 If the person who is sick is ignorant of the necessity of the removal of the waste products from the system the nurse should invite attention to these functions at such periods as are in accordance with the previous habits of the patient.