Health on the Farm: A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene

by H. F. Harris

Far too little attention is generally accorded to the proper care of the sick,—the prevailing opinion being that the royal road to recovery under the circumstances is opened up only through the taking of drugs, and that provided the appropriate ones be given in sufficient quantities recovery will result. No greater mistake is possible. As a matter of fact, there are very few diseases for which we have medicines that act in a specific manner, and far more is usually to be hoped for from good nursing. Fortunately the general public is beginning to recognize the truth of the statements just made. It has only been a short time since the trained nurse was unknown except in the larger medical centres, but now her presence and beneficent influence is being felt from one end of the land to the other, and her importance is destined to increase with the onward march of time; she is undoubtedly the greatest advance that we have made in medicine during the last decade.

Where persons are ill they should always be attended by a trained nurse if possible, but if this is out of the question a few suggestions as to the sick room and its hygiene should certainly not be omitted from any book dealing with rural sanitation.

Ventilation and Warmth.—The sick room if possible should be located on the sunny side of the house, and should have fire in a fireplace if the weather be cold. It is of the utmost consequence that the room have windows and doors by means of which it can be at all times thoroughly ventilated. At all seasons of the year a room on the lowest floor of the house is more satisfactory, since it is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. The room should not be uncomfortably cold, though it is much better to have the temperature too low than to have the air stuffy. In most diseases ventilation is of supreme importance, and should be secured at any cost. Where, however, it is compatible with thorough ventilation, a temperature of about 70°F. is generally considered most desirable.

Before a patient is moved into a room all superfluous furniture should be taken out, particularly carpets and hangings of all kinds. It is likewise of the utmost importance that all insects, particularly flies, be excluded by proper screening.

The patient's bed should be narrow, and a mattress is much to be preferred to a feather bed. The mattress should be protected by a rubber sheet or newspaper pads; oil-cloth cracks and wrinkles too badly to be of service for this purpose. The rubber sheet should of course be kept under the sheet nearest the mattress. The cover should consist of a sheet which is long enough to fold back at the head over the other covering for some distance, and blankets should be used for warmth in preference to quilts. The bed should be kept scrupulously clean, and the linen and covering should be removed when soiled. The nurse should see to it that bread-crumbs do not remain in the bed.

In removing soiled bed-clothes the following plan is the one usually adopted. The patient is moved to one side of the bed as near the edge as possible, and the sheet beneath him loosened at the head and the foot and on the opposite side; it is then rolled up toward the patient and pushed well up under him, leaving the side of the bed opposite to that upon which he is lying bare; upon this the new sheet is placed, which is then tucked under the edges of the mattress, and the patient rolls or is pulled back over on it. The soiled sheet is then removed and the edges of the fresh one pulled over the portions of the bed still uncovered, and secured in the usual way.

General Precautions.—The room should also be kept scrupulously clean; all sweepings should be burned. Soiled linen and all excretions from the patient should be promptly removed, and if the latter need not be preserved for the inspection of the physician, should be at once disinfected and properly disposed of. Milk and other food should not be left in the sick room; and soiled glasses and dishes should be removed and washed at once in boiling water.

Persons who are ill should not be allowed to have company. There is nothing more important in connection with the looking after patients with infectious diseases than this precaution. The writer has often seen in the country districts patients with typhoid fever and other infectious diseases surrounded by the neighbors from miles around,—the entire company often eating and drinking in the room occupied by the afflicted person. The strain that results on the patient from a practice of this kind might well in many cases have fatal consequences, and there is no question whatever that many diseases, particularly typhoid fever, are scattered in this way from house to house and from one community to another.

The diet should be given regularly and should consist strictly of only such things as are allowed by the physician.

All medicines should be given absolutely according to directions, as otherwise having a doctor is worse than useless.