Chapter VII

Care of the Sick—Management of the Sick-Room—Food of Invalids—Adaptation of Management to Particular Cases—Nurses, and Things essential to Nursing—Importance of Calmness and Patience.

Another duty of great importance devolves on woman, namely, the care of the sick. From the highest to the lowest none are, properly speaking, exempt from this charge. It is true that those who are rich can hire experienced nurses; but still the responsibility, the anxiety, rests with the mistress, for she cannot hire affection, thoughtful care, and all those little attentions which make the sole comfort of an invalid; she can merely secure a species of human machine which mechanically performs its duties, and between whiles eats, drinks, sleeps, and comforts itself. There are many excellent and kind-hearted professional nurses; but there are also more who become, as it were, petrified by the habitual contemplation of suffering, and who merely regard the patient with a business-like eye.

In a sick-room, the kindness and attention of the nurse often work far greater marvels than the skill of the doctor, for she is there every hour, she sees every change, and can minister to so many little wants; those trifles which make up the events of an invalid, those minor details so unimportant to a person in health, those whims and desires, and nervous susceptibilities which appear almost childish to lookers-on, will be studied by a good, conscientious nurse, and overlooked or disregarded by one who either does not feel interested in the patient, or has not sufficient sympathy to induce her to study these matters. In the former case, the invalid will be soothed and cheered; in the latter, irritated and depressed. Surely, it is not difficult to conceive which influence must act most beneficially upon the system.

Gentleness, watchfulness, firmness, judgment, some delicacy of feeling and savoir faire, and a truly Christian spirit, are the distinguishing characteristics which will best adapt a woman for fulfilling this phase of her duties. There are many who, from intense solicitude and sense of duty, will give way to those impulses of feeling which lead them to devote themselves so entirely to the nursing of some beloved relative, that all other duties, and even self, are wholly forgotten. What is the consequence of this error of judgment? Their own health succumbs, and they become not only useless, but render themselves sources of trouble and anxiety. How much better to have husbanded their strength, so as to be able to remain useful! That despised article, common sense, would teach us all so much if we would but stop to listen, if we would not mount, each one, our own peculiar hobby, and gallop off at a tremendous rate, heedless of all sign-posts, and often regardless of even hedges and ditches. Affection! feeling! sentiment! nerves! how much has been done and left undone in these names, especially as regards the subject we are now treating of, while poor dear common sense has been decried as a most unfeeling person, and rudely ejected when she strove to make herself heard!

Yet in few places is common sense a more valuable assistant than in the sick-room; aided by self-command and good feeling, she will transform the most uninitiated person into an excellent and efficient nurse. Let us hear a few of her fundamental principles.

Speak in a low but perfectly distinct voice, both to the invalid and to any one who enters the room, in order that, although no unnecessary sound may be heard, the patient’s ear may not be fatigued by striving to catch the words, or excited by mutterings or whispers addressed to some one else.

Let your countenance be calm and cheerful, your manner soothing and hopeful, and your words such as may cheer or comfort the mind. Avoid all fuss, all hasty movements, all noises that may startle or disturb; let even your dress and shoes be chosen with reference to quiet.

Keep everything in its place, so that in an instant you can put your hand on it when required; have hot water, clean cups, spoons, and glasses, and well-aired body and bed linen always handy; let the air of the room be changed frequently; avoid all bad smells, or remove them as soon as possible; pay strict attention to the temperature of the chamber, and keep it as even as may be; and regulate the light with equal care.

All food offered to invalids should be daintily prepared, and presented in the most careful manner. How often, when we have been longing for food, have we turned from it with disgust, because we had seen the nurse cool it with her breath, or taste it, and then drop the spoon back into it, and present it to us! Nor is it well to inquire of invalids what shall be got for them. If they express a wish for some particular thing, well and good, let it be got for them, if reasonable; but a trifling delicacy unexpectedly brought, will often tempt the appetite; besides, a sick person, or even a convalescent, is often too languid to be at the trouble of thinking about eating, and would sooner go without; or, if he or she chooses something, it may be the very thing which would be improper or prejudicial, and then comes disappointment, and a species of disgust of all else, for in illness the appetite is ever capricious.

Nowhere is cleanliness of such paramount importance as in the sick-room. Do not let us be misunderstood here. We do not mean that an immensity of sweeping, scouring, and dusting is to be done, but simply that the chamber must be kept clean and ventilated, that the bed and body linen must be changed often enough to refresh without fatiguing the patient, and that the air must be purified by means of vinegar, or other disinfectants.

As there are so many kinds of illness, no general rules can be laid down, and our friend, common sense, must be allowed to be the special adviser. In one case body and mind may be paralysed by weakness or languor; in another the body may be agonised, and yet the mind clear and active; while in a third the body may be sane, the mind insane. Hence no one who is a mere machine, guided by certain rules, can be a good and efficient nurse; no one who does not study how to minister to the mind as well as the body, who will not endeavour, to a certain extent, to identify herself with the tastes, feelings, and even prejudices of the patient, can be really useful.

What we have hitherto said applies chiefly to adult patients; to nurse a sick child may seem a far easier task, but is not so. What gentleness, firmness, playfulness, and, above all, what patience is needed in the sick chamber of a child!—for in time of illness, a child is doubly a child, almost a baby again.

The nurse should be constantly watchful over the little sufferer, and mark attentively those positions, and the particular treatment, which most effectually alleviate its sufferings, so that the latter may be repeated under a recurrence of similar circumstances. One great principle in child-nursing is to avoid over-feeding and over-dosing.

Every housekeeper should have a store of old linen, cambric, and calico rags, and old pieces of flannel; these are easily obtained by saving worn-out linen, flannel, and other garments, or at least the useful portions of them, and treasuring old silk and cambric handkerchiefs. Such things are invaluable in time of sickness for poultices, fomentations, leeches, &c. Those who have them not will do well to visit a pawnshop, or the emporium of a purchaser of wardrobes; and having there found one or two articles of no value but to be torn up, to buy these, bring them home, have them thoroughly washed, and then put them away for use.

It is good for us at times to be serious, to turn from the contemplation of life’s pleasures and enjoyments, and look upon its darker pages; for it has been beautifully said by an eminent writer, that “Suffering is not a slender dark thread, winding every now and then through a warp of dazzling brightness, but it is interwoven with the whole texture. It is not incidental, but designed for us; it enters into God’s purposes; it has a great work to do, and we know nothing of life until we comprehend its purposes.” Again: “Suffering nourishes the tenderest sympathies of our nature; it rouses us to energy and a consciousness of our own powers, and at the same time infuses the meekest dependence on God; it stimulates us to cherish and to prize the blessings of this world, and at the same time weans us from and lifts us above mere earthly things.”

There is no home into which sickness may not come at any hour; and as it is to woman that the office of nurse is invariably delegated, surely every woman ought to learn betimes all that will best qualify her to become the ministering angel, whose presence shall bless the long hours of pain and confinement. False delicacy, foolish weakness, and all that can detract from usefulness, should be early overcome. We have seen a daughter scream, and weep, and wring her hands, while her mother lay fainting before her; we have seen a mother shriek and fall on her knees and utter words of agony, when some accident happened to her child. But what did all this unavailing grief benefit the sufferers? How much better she who, controlling her feelings, thinks calmly how she can administer relief, and performs her duties in an intelligent and patient manner.