Notes on hospitals / by Florence Nightingale.

  • Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on hospitals / by Florence Nightingale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    subjects, had every stage of the plan brought to him, and made constant suggestions—it being his anxious wish to intro- duce into Portugal in a model building all the recent improve- ments in hospital construction made in this country. The architect was Mr. Humbert, to whom the design was entrusted by the Prince Consort. The building is arranged along a parallelogram, 135 feet long by 75 feet wide, surrounded by an open corridor and terrace. It consists of two pavilions, similar in construction to those of the Lariboisiere. These pavilions are two floors in height, and the upper wards are reached by wide open staircases. One peculiarity of the pavilion is, that the nursing stafl^ is all accommodated in the staircase end of it. This is effected simply by putting an additional floor at the top of the staircase. Each ward contains thirty-two beds. The water- closets, bath, and lavatory, are at the farther end of the long wards. They are specially planned for children's use. Each closet is ventilated separately, and is also cut off^ from the body of the compartment in which it is placed, so that all of them are surrounded by a considerable mass of constantly moving air passing through the compartment by windows on three sides, in addition to a window for each separate closet. If any foul air were by chance to escape from the closet, not- withstanding its ventilation, into the compartment, the foul air would at once be mingled with a large body of moving air, and carried outside the building. Escape of foul air into the ward is thus rendered impossible. Each large ward is pro- vided with two small baths, children's size, having hot and cold water laid on. Each ward is 128 feet long, by 30 feet wide, and 18 feet high, and gives 2160 cubic feet per bed. They will be the most magnificent wards in Europe. There are nine windows and one fireplace on each side. Besides the