The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-05-26
Trained Nurses.

| Good nursing is science to be
learned by hard study and long expert
epce. 1t is not an inspiration nor a mat
ter of good intentions. 1t acknowledge
and skill which are needed by the sick
man, and devotion cannot take the place
of intelligence. 1t is not hard to find a
GOOD doctor, but he must have some
help. He cannot stay to watch things;
he must go on to the next person who
needs him. There must be some one
in charge to whom he can look on his
return for an accurate report of the &C
ton of the medicines, the variation of
the pulse, the temperature of the body.
Who can be trusted to fill the placep
Surely not aperson quite without knowl-
edge or experience. And no amount
of love and anxiety can inspire woman
with all this knowledge Just because she
happened to need it. If She, by chance,
has it already she is fortunate, but that
is hardly to be expected. How many
mothers and sisters are there who know
just the way to adjust bandage, man
age a bed-sore, ventilate ROOM or
properly make the bed of helpless pa
tient? 1t is fine thing that mother
should be willing to die for her child; it
would be finer thing for her to know
how, by bath, bandage or ice-bac, to
save both the child and herself. A moth
er by the bedside of child sick with
diphtheria needs not love, but knoSyl-
edge. In the black hours after mid
night, when the doctor is beyond call
and the symptoms are changing, there
may come moment when a diffusible
stimulant is needed. But there is no
maternal instinct in her heart Which
can tell that the thing which few hours
before would kill will now, if given in
time, save the child. After the measles
are over and the doctor dismissed, a
most dangerous congestion Of the lungs
may set in. The plainest sign of this Is
a difference in the child's respiration,
which none but practisedear will per-
ceive. If it is noticed at once the child
may be saved, if not, in very few
hours it will be beyond any help of
nurse or doctor. Every year scores of
people die around us of fevers; and yet
Florence Nightingale says that most
eminent and conservative English ply
sician, who is an authority ON fevers,
"thinks very little of nurse who loses
a fever case" These are but few of
the instances where the quality of the
nursing is matter of vital Importance.
One medical writer says: In case
of serious illness no affection or solicit
tude can serve the sufferer so effectually
as the trained skill of hireling. Be
sides, the very solicitude of an anxious
friend may defeat its own intent be-
lieve that in critical cases the physician
will always prefer a competent nurse to
a devoted but inexperienced friend. :"
The nurse, who is the doctors substi-
tute in his absence, she, and not the
over-anXious wife or mother, can be
safely entrusted with the secrets of the
case and can keep the steady profess
sional view of it which is the most
promising one for the patient. A ply
stefan of this city says: 1.-Two people
die for want of proper nursing where
one suffers for the lack of doctor" 1t
has happened here many times that a
physician has hesitated about perform
ing an operation simply because he be-
lieved that the patient might die from
want of proper attention after the sur
gical part of the work was perfectly
done. Some surgeons in New York
have refused to perform certain opera
tions unless trained nurse is put in
charge of the patient when they leave
hlm.-IndtdnapOHS Journal.