1014. Why should there be a well-adjusted thermometer in every sick-chamber? 1015. What is said of the temperature of the sick-chamber? 1016. Why should the sick-room be kept quiet? 1017. What is said of noise in the sick-chamber? Of whispering? 1018. Should the habits of the patient be regarded in reference to the period for eating and sleep?
1019. The deportment and remarks of the nurse to the patient should be tranquil and encouraging. The illness of a friend, or persons who have recently died, should not be alluded to in the sick-room. No doubts or fears of the patient’s recovery, either by a look or by a word, should be communicated by the nurse in the chamber of the sick. When such information is necessary to be communicated, it is the duty of the physician to impart it to the sick person.
1020. The nurse should not confine herself to the sick-room more than six hours at a time. She should eat her food regularly, sleep at regular periods, and take exercise daily in the open air. To do this, let her quietly leave the room when the patient is sleeping. A watcher, or temporary nurse, may supply her place. There is but little danger of contracting disease, if the nurse attends to the simple laws of health, and remains not more than six hours at a time in the sick-room.
DIRECTIONS FOR WATCHERS.
1021. These necessary assistants, like the nurse, should have knowledge and practice. They should ever be cheerful, kind, firm, and attentive in the presence of the patient.
1022. A simple, nutritious supper should be eaten before entering the sick-room; and it is well, during the night, to take some plain food.
1019. What should be the deportment of the nurse toward the patient? Should doubts and fears of the patient’s recovery be communicated in the sick-room? When necessary to impart such intelligence, on whom does it depend? 1020. How long should a nurse remain in the sick-chamber at a time? 1021. What qualifications are necessary in a watcher? 1022. What directions in regard to the food of the watcher?
1023. When watching in cold weather, a person should be warmly dressed, and furnished with an extra garment, as a cloak or shawl, because the system becomes exhausted toward morning, and less heat is generated in the body.
1024. Light-colored clothing should be worn by those who have care of the sick, in preference to dark-colored apparel; particularly if the disease is of a contagious character. Experiments have shown, that black and other dark colors will absorb more readily the subtile effluvia that emanate from sick persons, than white or light colors.