And it never occurred to the nurse to extemporize some expedient,--it
never occurred to her that as he had had no solid food that day, he
might eat a bit of toast (say) with his tea in the evening, or he might
have some meal an hour earlier. A patient who cannot touch his dinner at
two, will often accept it gladly, if brought to him at seven. But
somehow nurses never "think of these things." One would imagine they did
not consider themselves bound to exercise their judgment; they leave it
to the patient. Now I am quite sure that it is better for a patient
rather to suffer these neglects than to try to teach his nurse to nurse
him, if she does not know how. It ruffles him, and if he is ill he is in
no condition to teach, especially upon himself. The above remarks apply
much more to private nursing than to hospitals.
[Sidenote: Nurse must have some rule of thought about her patients
diet.]
I would say to the nurse, have a rule of thought about your patient's
diet; consider, remember how much he has had, and how much he ought to
have to-day. Generally, the only rule of the private patient's diet is
what the nurse has to give.
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