For the removal of slops, the ordinary paraphernalia of the housemaid should be completely excluded from the sickroom, as both noisy and disgusting. All vessels when used, instead of being put under the bed, must be immediately removed and emptied outside, and brought back carefully rinsed, and, when necessary, deodorised with a little Condy’s fluid. Allow no confusion of medicine bottles, soiled glasses, spoons, and such matters about the room: those in immediate use should be kept arranged ready to hand; all others should be removed.
Even with the greatest care fires will burn down low, and it is necessary to have some means of restoration at hand. Few people know how valuable wine corks are for this purpose; they should always be saved, and a few kept in a corner of the coal basket. Orange and lemon peel likewise, when well dried, make capital fire revivers; and rather than that the fire in a sickroom should be allowed to go out, use a lump of white sugar or a sprinkling of brown, which will create in a moment a bright flame and revive the dying embers. Employ a pointed hard wooden stick instead of a poker; it makes so much less noise. Let a basket take the place of the coal-scuttle, and let its contents consist of fair-sized lumps, about as big as a French roll; a housemaid’s glove should be at hand to put these on with. This is the provision for the day. For the night small paper bags, such as fruiterers use, should be filled with about 1 lb. of small coal. This does not burn so fast or make so much flame as the lumps, whilst the feeding of the fire by these means divests the process of noise.
As little furniture as possible should encumber the room. No foot-stools, boxes, or baskets should be in the way, to be tripped over; no knick-knacks crowded on tables or mantelpieces to harbour dust, take up room, or tumble down with a crash. Various forms of sickroom furniture, adapted for confirmed invalids and serious surgical cases, are made by Alfred Carter, 97 Holborn Viaduct, and by Robinson and Sons, Ilkley, Yorkshire, whose catalogues will be worth getting.
Of carpets, the less the better; but if any are used, mere strips or rugs are best, as they are easily taken up and shaken, or cleaned. Curtains should be got rid of, especially if of woollen or stuff; cotton and linen should be used for any sofa or chair coverings.
Windows should be made to open easily from both top and bottom, whilst some contrivance is necessary to prevent any rattling noise from either window-frames or outer blinds. Venetian blinds, imperfect at the best, are quite unsuitable for a sickroom, being always noisy, and sure to admit alternate rays of light. Nothing wakes many people so quickly as light—a mere crevice unprotected is often enough. In the evening, be sure that the light of the lamp or candle does not fall in the patient’s eyes; there is nothing more distressing. Gas in a sick room is not healthy; a Queen’s reading-lamp, with a green shade, is pleasant for a stationary light, and a candle for moving about.
Real quiet is of paramount importance. Even “noiseless” crockery can now be obtained. The principle adopted is that of noiseless tyres to wheels, made of rubber, such tyres being fitted to the bottoms of the jugs, basins, &c.
One thing that would give great pleasure to many a bedridden sufferer is a looking-glass—sometimes two may, from the position of the bed, be necessary—fixed so as to reflect all the passers-by, or to show a patch of bright flower garden, bringing some of the outside life into the sickroom. Ferns growing beneath a bell glass, where they need no care or attention after they are once planted, may also be introduced. Plants in pots and cut flowers will occur to every one; it only remains to observe that growing plants, for their own sake as well as for the patient, should be moved out of the room at night, and that cut flowers from the side of a fever patient must be burnt in the room when they are dead, and not carried into any other part of the house.
The Nurse
The Nurse.—The Lancet insists that there is no more excuse for a nurse making a “guy” of herself than for her being decked out in vulgar finery, with her hair got up after an elaborate style which it would take her half the day to arrange. Print dresses of pretty pattern, or grey alpacas, according to season, with a light white cap, linen cuffs and collars, scrupulously white and clean, and a coloured neck ribbon, would be infinitely preferable to the black costumes of the sisterhoods. The heavy woollen dresses worn by some sisterhoods are not all that is desirable in a sanitary point of view. They do not “show dirt,” it is true; but it would be better if they did; and in their folds it is not impossible that germs of disease may be carried about. It may be laid down as a rule that nothing in a nurse’s dress that rustles, creaks, flaps, or catches can be in place. It is evident that this rule forbids silk dresses, stiff stays, trailing robes, and ornaments that are likely to throw things down. High heels are, of course, quite out of the question, as is any fashion which interferes with easy movement on the part of the nurse. Quietness, softness, usefulness are the points to be aimed at in the costume of a nurse; and if brightness can be given by a ribbon, the brightness may well be superadded. A nurse should wear no rings, and her nails should be kept cut very close. The sleeves of her dress should admit of being turned or rolled up above the elbow.
Never think any change in the patient’s manner or appearance too trifling to tell the doctor of it. Unimportant as you may deem it, it may be the very symptom he is watching for. Tell the doctor everything fully and truly, and above all, obey him implicitly. Never act against his orders, or tamper with them in any way. If you think any change in treatment judicious, ask his opinion first before trying it, but do not do things unknown to him. In this watchfulness and strict obedience lie the chief difference between professional and amateur nursing, and also too often the great advantage gained by employing the former over the latter. The several symptoms should be written down by the nurse from time to time on a slip of paper, always at hand, for the doctor.