Sick-nursing essentially a woman's mission : being the inaugural lecture on the qualifications for and the conduct of sick-nurses delivered at the opening of the new School of Nursing in Saint Bartholomew's Hospital on May 1, 1877 / by Dyce Duckworth.

  • Duckworth, Sir Dyce, 1840-1928.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sick-nursing essentially a woman's mission : being the inaugural lecture on the qualifications for and the conduct of sick-nurses delivered at the opening of the new School of Nursing in Saint Bartholomew's Hospital on May 1, 1877 / by Dyce Duckworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    discharges to contamiuute the air of the closets as well as the drainage-system of the hos[)ital and neighbour- hood, conceive what mischief you would be guilty of by disobedience and careless conduct. Once more: you will be instructed to see that the friends of patients smuggle in to them no food. You will want much vigilance here, but remember that by exercising it you may both shorten illnesses and even save life. I have certainly witnessed several deaths due to smuggled food, and known diseases to be badly aggravated from this cause. You will have to support the Sister in checking such risks. Thus, you see, it will be your duty to overlook no detail in carrying out your orders. Terrible results may follow the breach of a simple instruction, and ignorance or indifference on your part may cause much suffering and disaster. Now you would all doubtless say that anyone who could thus neglect her duty was distinctly unfit to be a nurse, and you would be right in your opinion, for the failure and inaptitude would result from a spirit of self-confidence due to ignorance, or from a habit of mind to which discipline and obedience were uncon- genial. In your training here you will be required to observe very closely all that may be noticed about the patients in your charge, and you will have to write down for your teachers certain information each day. This habit will prove veiy useful to you, and will tend to B