Home nursing : and how to help in cases of accident / Samuel Benton.

  • Benton, Samuel
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Home nursing : and how to help in cases of accident / Samuel Benton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the head of the bed ; the pillow or pillows, according to the nature of the case, must now be placed, and be careful they are well shaken up. There are only a few who can shake a pillow up properly; it requires practice and a light, quick handling. In some fever cases, where it is important to keep the head cool, pillows stuffed with oat chaff are preferable to feathers. Cover the whole with a sheet, one or two blankets and a counterpane, taking care that they are all scru- pulously clean, and that the sheets are broad enough to tuck in well on both sides of the bed ; this will spare a restless patient the misery of a loose sheet. Long counterpanes touching the floor should be abolished, as they only serve as dust-traps, and often hide unemptied vessels, dirty clothes, old boots, etc. In cases of severe illness, in which a patient has to be lifted on to a couch whilst his bed is being made, he had better be lifted back at that stage of the bed- making when the draw-sheet is fixed. A small piece of mackintosh with a napkin over it should be laid under any part likely to discharge ; this will often save sheets and mattresses getting soiled, and the napkins can be easily changed without disturbing the patient. It is quite possible and sometimes necessary in severe injuries, or when there is extreme weakness, to make a bed without removing the patient. An assistant will be needed. Insist on your patient lying down flat without pillow or bolster, as attempts to move only hamper the work. Fold up the draw and linen sheet