To go about the application of the pack quietly and without much talking is very comforting to the patient, who usually grows excited during the procedure.
In case of acute feverish disease the packs and the changes must be applied very quickly, so that the patient will not catch cold. While, as a rule, the patient should not be disturbed in a quiet sleep, unconsciousness or delirium must not prevent change of the pack.
Packs should be applied so as not to cause any creases which may hurt the patient.
The temperature of the water used for packs should be as follows:
For the cooling packs, 59 degrees to 64 degrees.
For dissolving packs, 64 degrees to 71 degrees.
The higher temperature is used in the treatment of infants, nervous and anaemic persons.
In chronic diseases a gradual return to a lower temperature by about 2½ degrees per week is advisable.
No packs or compresses should be put on when parts of the body are cold. In such cases the parts in question must first be warmed.
The linen should be wrung out less for short cooling compresses than for dissolving packs of longer duration.