SICK ROOM DISINFECTANTS
The most important thing which we are going to mention in this division of the chapter is the disinfection of the door knobs. According to the directions on the poison bottle, place an antiseptic tablet into a small amount of water which will make a solution of 1 to 1000 of bichlorid of mercury, and several times a day disinfect the door knobs, particularly in the sick end of the house—thoroughly washing and adequately rubbing with a towel moistened in this solution.
All stools and urine from the sick one will receive attention as directed by the physician. The stools from a typhoid patient should stand for one-half hour in a chamber covered with a layer of lime.
It is not at all necessary to have vessels containing disinfectant substances standing about the room and in the closet. In a room adjoining should be kept all of the dishes used by the sick patient, his tray, half a dozen napkins, knife, fork, spoon, serving dishes, drinking glass, pitcher, etc. All bedding and all linen used by the sick member should be allowed to stand in a solution of disinfectant for several hours when they may be wrung out of the solution, dropped into a bucket and carried to the laundry without any danger to other members of the family.
The nurse is not allowed to leave this room in the garments that are worn while caring for the sick. She should have her meals in an adjoining room which is also under strict isolation.
THE MEDICINE CHEST
The sick room medicine chest should be so placed on the wall that it is outside the reach of the smaller members of the family, for in it should be placed poisons for external use that are capable of producing death if taken internally. Bottles that hold these poisons—such as bichlorid of mercury, lysol, carbolic acid, laudanum, paregoric, belladonna, etc.—should be so different from the other bottles in the medicine chest that if one should reach for them with his eyes shut or in the dark he would at once recognize that he had hold of a poison bottle. This is absolutely necessary. It usually means a bit of extra expense, but when we realize what tragedies may be avoided by such slight expense, it must not be considered.
Bottles may be procured that have been molded with points of glass projecting from the outside which make them rough to the touch, or they may be covered with a wire mesh or with a wicker covering which may easily be told from the other bottles in the case.
One woman lost her life because the nurse placed two ounces of carbolic acid in the enema instead of two ounces of saline solution. Saline solution is nothing but salt and water, while carbolic acid cost the woman her life, simply because the carbolic acid was not placed in a specialized poison bottle and the attendant could not read the label in the dark.
Under no circumstances keep from one year to another the remnants of unused medicine of a former sickness, for medicines do not keep well and often lose their strength if kept longer than the physician intended.