Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses — John Shaqi
Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate NursesLounsbery, Harriet Camp
Science
Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses
Lounsbery, Harriet Camp
Private duty nursing
In the first place get together everything you will need for the
bath and subsequent dressing. Have the clothes all laid in order
over a chair-back before an open fireplace, or over a radiator, or
if no better expedient suggest itself, fill bottles with hot
water, or get a hot water bag and fill that, and lay it
_over_ the clothes arranged in the order you will need them,
beginning the pile with the dress and having the band the last.
Have _two_ large, soft towels and keep them warm. If possible,
have an apron made of rubber cloth to tie about your waist.
At your side, on the floor, have a small blanket ready to
lay over the rubber apron when needed. Put your baby basket where
you can reach it, be sure that it contains all the things you will
need--sponge, soap, powder, pins, vaseline, etc., and an extra
diaper or two. Now get the tub (tin) and pour in the water until
it is about four inches deep. Have the water no warmer than 100 degrees
F. Bath thermometers are made that are quite cheap, and a great
convenience; one should always be at hand, as no nurse should ever
trust her feelings as to whether the water is hot enough or not.
Always test any water to be used for the sick or the delicate with
a thermometer. Another point a nurse should be most careful about,
is to be careful that her hands are warm before she takes the
baby, as her cold hands on his warm flesh will surely make him
scream.
All being now ready, take the baby and sit down with him,
spreading the blanket over your knees as you do so, and having the
tub just in front of you on another chair. The sponge is best to
use for the washing, but a piece of old table damask is very good.
Wash the eyes very carefully first, then the face, and dry on the
towel. Now hold the baby's head over the tub and give that a good
washing with soap on your bare hand, and rinse it well with plenty
of water, always holding the left hand under the head and neck.
Bring him back on your lap and thoroughly dry his head, then wash
and dry the ears carefully.
When you get this far you may undress the baby completely, being
most careful yet not taking any unnecessary time. When he is quite
ready for the tub, grasp him firmly with the right hand, letting
the buttocks rest in the palm of the hand, the fingers being
outspread, and the thumb coming up almost to the pubic bone. With
the left hand hold the head and shoulders. Lower him _very_
gently into the water. Any sudden movement is most injurious, as a
baby must never cry when the band is off, if it can be avoided. He
will often put out both hands as if trying to catch hold of
something. If he seems frightened at the same time, and cries
violently, let the buttocks rest on the bottom of the tub, and
with the right hand hold both of his, and he will be comforted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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