Handbook of obstetric nursing / by Francis W.N. Haultain and J. Haig Ferguson.

Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Handbook of obstetric nursing / by Francis W.N. Haultain and J. Haig Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    CHAPTER XII. MANAGEMENT OF NORMAL LABOUR. Upon being called to a labour, the summons must be obeyed as quickly as possible, because, should anything untoward happen, the blame, whether deservedly or not, is sure to be laid on the expected attendant. The nurse, if a doctor is expected, is always sent for first, and ought to know when it is necessary to send for the medical attendant. This is by no means a pleasant situation, for if, on the one hand, she sends too early, she lays herself open to the reproaches of the busy doctor, especially if roused in the early hours of the morning; while, on the other hand, if she sends too late, even though the labour has ended most satisfactorily before the doctor has arrived, she is apt to be blamed both by the patient and her friends. Again, on her arrival, or before the doctor can be got, the nurse may have to combat some serious com- plications, which may arise at any moment in any labour. These complications, arising so unexpectedly, and endangering, as they so frequently do, the life of