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Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1920

"Notes on Nursing What It Is, and What It Is Not"


[Sidenote: Nor in a dark place.]
A patient's bed should always be in the lightest spot in the room; and
he should be able to see out of window.
[Sidenote: Nor a four poster with curtains.]
I need scarcely say that the old four-post bed with curtains is utterly
inadmissible, whether for sick or well. Hospital bedsteads are in many
respects very much less objectionable than private ones.
[Sidenote: Scrofula often a result of disposition of bedclothes.]
There is reason to believe that not a few of the apparently
unaccountable cases of scrofula among children proceed from the habit of
sleeping with the head under the bed clothes, and so inhaling air
already breathed, which is farther contaminated by exhalations from the
skin. Patients are sometimes given to a similar habit, and it often
happens that the bed clothes are so disposed that the patient must
necessarily breathe air more or less contaminated by exhalations from
his skin. A good nurse will be careful to attend to this. It is an
important part, so to speak, of ventilation.
[Sidenote: Bed sores.]
It may be worth while to remark, that where there is any danger of
bed-sores a blanket should never be placed _under_ the patient.


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