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
As to scourers, the nature of the floors decided upon will determine
what are wanted.
Also, none of the midwives can be expected to be housemaids, even in
their own rooms. They have too much to do. The pupil midwives would be
expected to clean their own bed rooms, but not to scour, either for the
patients or for themselves.
There must be a common room for pupil midwives. Here they take their
meals in detachments. Head midwife, as a rule, with first detachment;
matron carving. Here they receive lectures and instruction from the
physician accoucheur.
The matron must have two rooms.
The head midwife may have two rooms. She will expect to have her tea in
her own room.
The head midwife, her assistants, and all her staff, should be lodged in
a central position, and there should be ready means of communication
with these quarters, both by bells and speaking tubes, from each
pavilion and delivery ward.
A regular night service in a lying-in institution being impossible, the
head midwife, when she goes her last round at night, say between eleven
and twelve P.M., stations other watchers for any emergency arising
besides those now to be mentioned, who are for the night nursing of
ordinary cases.
For this one pupil would probably be told off for each four wards or
beds, and one extra for the whole floor, who must not be an
inexperienced pupil. Her duty would be to visit each pavilion on her
floor, and to have all in readiness in the delivery ward for cases
coming in at night—a not infrequent occurrence.
The head midwife would also arrange for the special care of any critical
case at once, on the patient being conveyed to her own ward, or to that
adjacent to the delivery ward.
In so large and therefore busy a lying-in institution, it would not be
desirable to call up all the pupil midwives to every case coming in the
night. They would be appointed day by day alternately, and the number
told off for the purpose would be called to any case coming _that_
night.
It is therefore most desirable that the sleeping-rooms or compartments
(each with its own window) of the pupil midwives should be arranged in
at least three reliefs, so that the occupants of one dormitory, or
relief, could be called by a bell from the delivery ward ringing into
that dormitory without needlessly disturbing others.
In so large an institution the head midwife even cannot attend every
night case.
The assistant must be a well qualified midwife, who can take her turn in
attending night cases, calling the head midwife if necessary.
Through all this organization, however, as far as possible, each pupil
is told off to be in charge of a mother and infant from beginning to
end.
And there will always be unfortunately a certain number of cases, each
requiring a nurse constantly by her side day and night.
It is obvious that the same woman cannot do this for a succession of
days and nights.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account