I thought
it might be interesting to read what was expected of nurses in my
mother's time. I found myself thinking snide thoughts as I was typing
these excerpts from my mother's copy of Practical Nursing.
Qualifications
for a Nurse in 1907
Women who
contemplate entering the profession of nursing should give the matter
careful consideration, gathering from available sources an
intelligent idea of the requirements, the trials, the hardships and
the reward of such exacting work.
The
reactions between the physical and mental conditions are so closely
connected that the life of a nurse becomes unendurable when she is
physically depleted, and consequently she fails to give to her
patients the bodily or mental help which they require.
MEANS OF
MAINTAINING HEALTH
A daily
bath is indispensable. A warm bath followed by a cold shower is
usually considered most effective.
The hair
should be thoroughly washed every two weeks and well brushed every
night.
The teeth
should be always brushed and the throat gargled at lease twice a
day.
The hands.
After handling a patient who is suffering from an infectious
disease, the hand should be disinfected before touching
anything–even before washing
them–by submerging and
scrubbing them in a disinfectant for three minutes.
Shoes …
Sometimes, when a nurse first comes to the hospital, feet perspire a
great deal; when this is the case the shoes and stockings should be
changed twice a day. Odor due to perspiration can often be corrected
by the use of borax or other alkaline powder in the shoes, or
formaldehyde solution, 1 %, has also been found effective.
Nothing is
more conducive to good health than fresh air. Nurses should always
sleep with their windows open, winter and summer. Sleep: At least
seven hours sleep is required in order to keep well and to do good
work.
Mealtime:
Only in cases of extreme emergency do the hospital authorities
expect nurses to shorten the time allowed them for their meals.
Nurses should try to forget their work, done and undone, when they
come to their meals. All “ward talk” should be avoided at
meal-time; discussion of patients or hospital work should not be
tolerated. Instead, the effort should be made to direct the
conversation to interesting topics of the day, and amusing incidents
that will divert the mind into new channels of thought.
Slight
Ailments: Serious illness may often prevented by attending
immediately to such slight ailments as indigestion, constipation,
sore throat, to any appearance of infected fingers, and particularly
common, the breaking down of the arch of the foot. Student nurses
should not attempt to prescribe for themselves, as indiscriminate
dosing often begets the “drug habit.” Students must not,
however, expect to be off duty for slight ailments. If they wish to
become useful and successful nurses, they must accustom themselves
to working under difficulties.
