Prev | Current Page 175 | Next

Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1920

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

I have often been asked the question
for uninhabited rooms--But when ought the windows to be opened? The
answer is--When ought they to be shut?
[3] It is very desirable that the windows in a sick room should be such
as that the patient shall, if he can move about, be able to open and
shut them easily himself. In fact the sick room is very seldom kept
aired if this is not the case--so very few people have any perception of
what is a healthy atmosphere for the sick. The sick man often says,
"This room where I spend 22 hours out of the 24 is fresher than the
other where I only spend 2. Because here I can manage the windows
myself." And [Transcriber's Note: Word, possibly "it" missing in
original.] is true.
[4]
[Sidenote: An air-test of essential consequence.]
Dr. Angus Smith's air test, if it could be made of simpler application,
would be invaluable to use in every sleeping and sick room. Just as
without the use of a thermometer no nurse should ever put a patient into
a bath, so should no nurse, or mother, or superintendent be without the
air test in any ward, nursery, or sleeping-room.


Pages:
163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187