Introductory notes on lying-in institutions : $b Together with a proposal for organising an institution for training midwives and midwifery nursesNightingale, Florence
Science
Introductory notes on lying-in institutions : $b Together with a proposal for organising an institution for training midwives and midwifery nurses
Nightingale, Florence
Women's hospitals
The Shorncliffe Hospital is an old wooden hut of the simplest
construction, with thorough ventilation. It is situated on a rising
ground close to the sea, and facing it, so that the sea breeze sweeps
right through it. It is scarcely more than a makeshift. And here are the
results.
Table IV. shows that up to December 1869, there had been 702 deliveries
in the hut, among which there was one death from scarlet fever, and one
from hæmorrhage, besides two deaths following on craniotomy. There was
not a single death from any puerperal disease.
Colchester Lying-in Hospital, of which a plan and section are given on
Plate II., is nothing more than an ordinary officer’s wooden hut,
divided by partitions into four compartments, with a transverse passage
cutting them off from each other. This hut has been in use for a
considerable number of years as a place of lying-in for soldiers’ wives
living in the camp, and there have been altogether between 500 and 600
deliveries in it. The matron states that during the whole time the hut
has been in use for its present purpose, no death has taken place in it.
But as statistics have only been kept since 1865, we shall limit our
attention to them. They show that, up to the end of October 1870, there
had been 252 registered deliveries, and no deaths.
[Illustration:
PLAN II
SECTION ON LINE A.B.
_Scale of Feet_
PLAN OF WOODEN LYING-IN HUT COLCHESTER CAMP.
_v. Foul air outlets._
]
The results of these two makeshift hospitals, when compared with the
figures already given for lying-in establishments generally, are
certainly remarkable. They are both detached buildings, having no
connection with any general hospital. Their construction ensures a
plentiful supply of fresh air at all times. They contain very few beds,
and these beds are occupied, seldom or never, all at one time. Indeed,
it is stated that in the Colchester hut there is scarcely more than one,
or at most two beds, constantly occupied throughout the year. Also,
soldiers’ wives lying-in rarely remain more than ten days, though
sometimes twelve in hospital. There is, therefore, no crowding;
scrupulous cleanliness is observed; there are no sources of putrid miasm
in or near the lying-in huts; and they have their own attendants. The
data in Table IV. show that there have been 954 registered deliveries in
the two huts, and four deaths, of which three were due to puerperal
accidents, and none to puerperal diseases.
[Illustration:
PROPOSED HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN, PORTSMOUTH.
]
A. Wards.
B. Spare Wards.
C. Sculleries.
D. Nurses.
E. Lavatories.
F. Linen.
G. Baths.
H. Kitchen.
I. Cook’s Room.
K. Store.
L. Medical Comforts.
M. Store.
N. Coals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account