A very sick patient is hardly likely
to change his position much, and where he is able to, an entire one
to another small bed gives the opportunity of thoroughly airing both
IN THE sick-room; OR, SANITARY NURSING. 1 59
bedding and mattress. In airing either the clothing or bedding, if
they cannot have a thorough sunning, dry them before a fire, which
not only dries but airs them, such drying being more important for
partly soiled things than for clean. A bedside-table is a necessity, for
no waiter or dish should ever be put on the bed itself.
Miss Nightingale writes amusingly, yet with much feeling, of the
difficulties she has encountered in this way : " When I see a patient
in a room nine or ten feet high upon a bed four or five feet high, with
his head, when he is sitting up in bed, actually within two or three
feet of the ceiling, I ask myself, Is this expressly planned to produce
that peculiarly distressing feeling common to the sick, viz., as if the
walls and ceiling were closing in upon them, and they becoming
sandwiches between floor and ceiling, which imagination is not, in-
deed, here so far from the truth ? If, over and above this, the win-
dow stops short of the ceiling, then the patient's head may literally
be raised above the stratum of fresh air even when the window is
open. Can human perversity any farther go in unmaking the pro-
cess of restoration which God has made ? The fact is, that the heads
of sleepers or of sick should never be higher than the throat of the
chimney, which ensures their being in the current of best air. And
we will not suppose it possible that you have closed your chimney
with a chimney-board."
Let the bed covering be always as light as possible, using blankets,
and never comfortables where it can be avoided. Weight is not
warmth, and a weak patient will be made weaker if obliged to bear
it. The pillows should not be piled upon one another like bricks,
but arranged so that the lower one will fit in to the hollow of the
back and the whole form an easy inclined plane. The breathing is
more or less difficult in all sickness, and the pillows should always
be so placed that the shoulders can fall back and the head be sup-
ported but not thrown forward.
The position of the bed is also of importance. The well person
thinks little of this, for the bed-room is occupied at most not over
seven or eight hours at once. But the sick man craves light, and
i6o THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
there are few cases where a room must be darkened, abundant sun-
light being a powerful means of recovery. A patient instinctively
turns to the light, and is never likely to turn to the wall unless
indifferent and approaching death. If able to sit up at all, it should
be in the sunshine, except in hottest weather, and a shadowy
north room is the worst possible one for any invalid, chronic or
temporary.
Where a patient is too ill to move and sheets must be changed,
the best method is that practiced in hospitals and described by Dr.
Burdett, of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, in a valuable book
on " Cottage Hospitals : "
Page 99
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A very sick patient is hardly likely to change his position much, and where he is able to, an entire one to another small bed gives the opportunity of thoroughly airing both
bedding and mattress. In airing either the clothing or bedding, if they cannot have a thorough sunning, dry them before a fire, which not only dries but airs them, such drying being more important for partly soiled things than for clean. A bedside-table is a necessity, for no waiter or dish should ever be put on the bed itself.
Miss Nightingale writes amusingly, yet with much feeling, of the difficulties she has encountered in this way : " When I see a patient in a room nine or ten feet high upon a bed four or five feet high, with his head, when he is sitting up in bed, actually within two or three feet of the ceiling, I ask myself, Is this expressly planned to produce that peculiarly distressing feeling common to the sick, viz., as if the walls and ceiling were closing in upon them, and they becoming sandwiches between floor and ceiling, which imagination is not, indeed, here so far from the truth ? If, over and above this, the window stops short of the ceiling, then the patient's head may literally be raised above the stratum of fresh air even when the window is open. Can human perversity any farther go in unmaking the process of restoration which God has made ? The fact is, that the heads of sleepers or of sick should never be higher than the throat of the chimney, which ensures their being in the current of best air. And we will not suppose it possible that you have closed your chimney with a chimney-board."
Let the bed covering be always as light as possible, using blankets, and never comfortables where it can be avoided. Weight is not warmth, and a weak patient will be made weaker if obliged to bear it. The pillows should not be piled upon one another like bricks, but arranged so that the lower one will fit in to the hollow of the back and the whole form an easy inclined plane. The breathing is more or less difficult in all sickness, and the pillows should always be so placed that the shoulders can fall back and the head be supported but not thrown forward.
The position of the bed is also of importance. The well person thinks little of this, for the bed-room is occupied at most not over seven or eight hours at once. But the sick man craves light, and
i6o THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
there are few cases where a room must be darkened, abundant sunlight being a powerful means of recovery. A patient instinctively turns to the light, and is never likely to turn to the wall unless indifferent and approaching death. If able to sit up at all, it should be in the sunshine, except in hottest weather, and a shadowy north room is the worst possible one for any invalid, chronic or temporary.
Where a patient is too ill to move and sheets must be changed, the best method is that practiced in hospitals and described by Dr. Burdett, of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, in a valuable book on " Cottage Hospitals : "