Practical Nursing - 1907

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.