Hospital housekeepingAikens, Charlotte A. (Charlotte Albina)
Science
Hospital housekeeping
Aikens, Charlotte A. (Charlotte Albina)
Hospitals
Hot water bottles 20
Bed-cradles 2
Immersion buckets for limbs 1
Wash basins 8
Nail brushes 10
Combs 6
Looking glasses 4
Bed pans 10
Urinals 10
Douche pans 4
Sputum cups 10
Catherostat 1
Bedside chairs, iron, white enameled, with rubber tips 20
Wheel chairs 3
Rockers 4
Two-bowl washstand on rubber-tired wheels for doctors’ use 1
CHAPTER IV.
[Sidenote: The Linen Room]
The linen room is one of the very important parts of the institution.
Demands will be made on it almost every hour, and, if the hospital is
to do proper work, it must be equal to the demands. As well expect a
carpenter to construct a building without tools as expect nurses to do
conscientious work without a sufficient supply of bed and body linen
to keep their patients in proper condition. Lack of knowledge on the
part of the managers as to the amount of supplies necessary, rather
than a lack of money, is accountable for the shortage of linen in
many hospitals. An important part of the housekeeper’s duties is to
know what supplies are on hand, and keep the board informed as to the
needs. Time, and tact, and perseverance in educating them as to what
is absolutely necessary for proper work, will do much to correct such
defects in hospital management. It is difficult for the laity, who are
perhaps accustomed to having bedding changed in their homes but once a
week, and then sometimes allowing for but one clean sheet for each bed,
to appreciate that a constant changing of beds goes on in a hospital,
both day and night, and that economy is out of the question. A hospital
can really afford to be extravagant in the matter of linen. That is
one point, and perhaps the only one, in which lavish expenditure will
really redound to the good of the hospital. Better cut down expense in
a dozen other ways than to give rise to the criticism that the hospital
has not sufficient linen to keep its patients and its beds in proper
condition. Cleanliness may be next to godliness in most circumstances,
but no hospital can afford to let cleanliness take second rank with
any other virtue. In fact, if want of cleanliness in the care of the
beds or patients be noted, very grave doubts as to the godliness of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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