Those who minister to the sick should understand the
importance of careful attention to the laws of health.
Nowhere is obedience to these laws more important than in
the sickroom. Nowhere does so much depend upon faithfulness
in little things on the part of the attendants. In cases of
serious illness, a little neglect, a slight inattention to a patient's
special needs or dangers, the manifestation of fear, excitement,
or petulance, even a lack of sympathy, may turn the scale that
is balancing life and death, and cause to go down to the grave
a patient who otherwise might have recovered.
The efficiency of the nurse depends, to a great degree, upon
physical vigor. The better the health, the better will she be
able to endure the strain of attendance upon the sick, and the
more successfully can she perform her duties. Those who care
for the sick should give special attention to diet, cleanliness,
fresh air, and exercise. Like carefulness on the part of the
family will enable them also to endure the extra burdens
brought upon them, and will help to prevent them from
contracting disease.
Where the illness is serious, requiring the attendance of a
nurse night and day, the work should be shared by at least
two efficient nurses, so that each may have opportunity for
rest and for exercise in the open air. This is especially important
in cases where it is difficult to secure an abundance of
fresh air in the sickroom. Through ignorance of the importance
of fresh air, ventilation is sometimes restricted, and the
lives of both patient and attendant are often in danger.
If proper precaution is observed, noncontagious diseases
need not be taken by others. Let the habits be correct, and by
cleanliness and proper ventilation keep the sickroom free
from poisonous elements. Under such conditions, the sick
are much more likely to recover, and in most cases neither
attendants nor the members of the family will contract the
disease.
Sunlight, Ventilation, and Temperature
To afford the patient the most favorable conditions for
recovery, the room he occupies should be large, light, and
cheerful, with opportunity for thorough ventilation. The
room in the house that best meets these requirements should
be chosen as the sickroom. Many houses have no special
provision for proper ventilation, and to secure it is difficult; but
every possible effort should be made to arrange the sickroom
so that a current of fresh air can pass through it night and day.
So far as possible an even temperature should be
maintained in the sickroom. The thermometer should be
consulted. Those who have the care of the sick, being often
deprived of sleep or awakened in the night to attend to the
patient, are liable to chilliness and are not good judges of a
healthful temperature.
Diet
An important part of the nurse's duty is the care of the
patient's diet. The patient should not be allowed to suffer or
become unduly weakened through lack of nourishment, nor
should the enfeebled digestive powers be overtaxed. Care
should be taken so to prepare and serve the food that it will
be palatable, but wise judgment should be used in adapting it
to the needs of the patient, both in quantity and quality. In
times of convalescence especially, when the appetite is keen,
before the digestive organs have recovered strength, there is
great danger of injury from errors in diet.
Duties of Attendants
Nurses, and all who have to do with the sickroom, should
be cheerful, calm, and self-possessed. All hurry, excitement,
or confusion, should be avoided. Doors should be opened
and shut with care, and the whole household be kept quiet.
In cases of fever, special care is needed when the crisis comes
and the fever is passing away. Then constant watching is
often necessary. Ignorance, forgetfulness, and recklessness
have caused the death of many who might have lived had they
received proper care from judicious, thoughtful nurses.
Visiting the Sick
It is misdirected kindness, a false idea of courtesy, that leads
to much visiting of the sick. Those who are very ill should
not have visitors. The excitement connected with receiving
callers wearies the patient at a time when he is in the greatest
need of quiet, undisturbed rest.
To a convalescent or a patient suffering from chronic
disease, it is often a pleasure and a benefit to know that he is
kindly remembered; but this assurance conveyed by a message
of sympathy or by some little gift will often serve a better
purpose than a personal visit, and without danger of harm.
Institutional Nursing
In sanitariums and hospitals, where nurses are constantly
associated with large numbers of sick people, it requires a
decided effort to be always pleasant and cheerful, and to show
thoughtful consideration in every word and act. In these
institutions it is of the utmost importance that the nurses strive
to do their work wisely and well. They need ever to remember
that in the discharge of their daily duties they are serving
the Lord Christ.
The sick need to have wise words spoken to them. Nurses
should study the Bible daily, that they may be able to speak
words that will enlighten and help the suffering. Angels of
God are in the rooms where these suffering ones are being
ministered to, and the atmosphere surrounding the soul of
the one giving treatment should be pure and fragrant.
Physicians and nurses are to cherish the principles of Christ. In
their lives His virtues are to be seen. Then, by what they do
and say, they will draw the sick to the Saviour.
The Christian nurse, while administering treatment for
the restoration of health, will pleasantly and successfully draw
the mind of the patient to Christ, the healer of the soul as well
as of the body. The thoughts presented, here a little and there
a little, will have their influence. The older nurses should lose
no favorable opportunity of calling the attention of the sick
to Christ. They should be ever ready to blend spiritual healing
with physical healing.
In the kindest and tenderest manner nurses are to teach
that he who would be healed must cease to transgress the law
of God. He must cease to choose a life of sin. God cannot
bless the one who continues to bring upon himself disease and
suffering by a willful violation of the laws of heaven. But
Christ, through the Holy Spirit, comes as a healing power to
those who cease to do evil and learn to do well.
Those who have no love for God will work constantly
against the best interests of soul and body. But those who
awake to the importance of living in obedience to God in this
present evil world will be willing to separate from every
wrong habit. Gratitude and love will fill their hearts. They
know that Christ is their friend. In many cases the realization
that they have such a friend means more to the suffering ones
in their recovery from sickness than the best treatment that
can be given. But both lines of ministry are essential. They
are to go hand in hand.