Home nursing : with notes on the preservation of health / by Isabel Macdonald.

  • Macdonald, Isabel.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Home nursing : with notes on the preservation of health / by Isabel Macdonald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    38/352 (page 18)
    it is pale in colour, while in jaundice it is dark. A dark greenish colour is one of the earliest symptoms of cax-bolic poisoning. Sometimes urine lias a turbid appearance from the presence in it of mucus, blood, or pus. The presence of blood in urine often gives a dark “ smoky ” colour. Motions. Notice the frequency and character of the motions—whether thick or fluid, whether scanty or large in amount, whether frothy (which shows fermentation), whether containing mucus, as in dysentery, or whether there are any traces of blood. Should the blood be bright red in colour, then bleed- ing is in the lower part of the intestine; but if the motions are black, then the bleeding part is nearer the stomach. Observe the colour—whether brown, putty coloured, white, or greenish; also notice any appearance of undigested food. Gall stones can only be searched for by straining through coarse muslin. Effect of remedies. Always notice the effect of remedies given. Thus if a narcotic has been ordered, notice the kind and amount of sleep, and whether the patient in the morning complains of headache or sickness. If something has been given to relieve pain, observe what effect it has upon the severity and duration of that. If it was given to prevent indigestion, ascertain whether pain or discomfort is lessened, or whether there are longer intervals between attacks of vomiting. Observe whether remedies given for the patient’s cough in any way alleviate this. Then occasionally one must be on the outlook for particular symptoms when. certain medicines are being given. Where quinine is being administered, ascertain whether there is singing in the ears; when belladonna is given, observe whether there is dilation of the pupils, or if the drug being taken happen to be opium, then there may be contraction of these. A dark greenish colour