The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1932-02-26
SEMI TRAINED NURSE MAKES
'FRONT.' PAGE


AS a young doctor I was painfully conscious
of grave deficiency in my professional train
ing. No one had thought it necessary to teach
me anything about the thousand and one little
problems practicing physician must deal
| with, aside from his art. From my present
semi d etached point of view 1t looks as though
the young doctors and the young nurses of the
day could do with a short practical course of
lectures lessons on the ways OF the world
I believe such instruction would prevent many
faux pas.
| Front page item recently described the re-
viyng Of a. dead man. The man had been very
ill and his death was expected At length he
ceased breathing, and the nurse informed his
relatives he was dead. They sent messages to
va rious distant connections, notified the under.
taker. ETC., and half hour later the dead
man resumed breathing where he had tenn
porarly left off. When the attending physician
arrived he explained that the patient had what
doctors call Cheyne-Stokes breathing, pecu-
liar irregularity Of breathing occurring in va
rious grave illnesses the breaths coming deep
err and faster for time till the breathing Is
quite violent, then a period OF slower and
more shallow breaths till 1t seems the patient
doesn't breathe at all for several seconds. 1t
was in one of these intervals that the nurse de-
cided the patient was dead. That was not the
mistake Even If she was quite certain the pa
| tient was dead the nurse should not have Ven-
| tured to say Her full duty was done when
she observed that the patient had ceased
breathing That all she should have re-
ported to the doctor, or to the family If the
doctor was not within call. The we'll trained
| nurse always leaves upon the doctors shoulders
the responsibility of diagnosing death--or any
thing else.
A young doctor recently received patient
had referred to him. The patient. strangely
enough had enough confidence in me to be-
| lieve what 1 had told her in this column, to
wit, that course of insulin injections will help
many undernourshed persons put much
needed flesh, and it doesn't matter whether
such a patient has diabetes or not. Well, listen
to the patients report of the rebuff the semi
educated doctor gave her:
This doctor, though young enough, must
be somewhat behind medical progress. for
when 1 asked him about this treatment for
holy rights he seemed to think l was
diabetic patients only.
When the doctor calmly assured the young
woman that insulin treatment is given only to
persons with da betes he betrayed his inepti-
| tude. If he will take an afternoon off and pay
a visit to the Academy of Medicine library or
even unwrap a few copies of his own official
| medical journal If he subscribes to one. he will
learn something to the advantage of his UNDER
nourshed patients and his own success In prac-
| tice.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Bar for Child with Curvature
If the mother of the child with spinal cur
vaturc will arrange a bar on which the child
| can hang and swing herself free from the
floor, the weight of her body suspended by the
arms will straighten her spine and help dcvel-
| Op the muscles. This was recommended to me
| by u physician. wv. f. d.
Answer-Or rig up a trapeze, with mat
| tress for the child to fall on while learning to
! do simple stunts.
Is there any cure known that will remove
| the scars of scarlet fever? III H.)
Answer-No remedy medicine will re-
| move scars, from whatever cause Only sur
| gerry, in responsible hands. can deal with a
| scar scars.
Iodin Ration Without Stain
| Isn't there some kind of an iodine tablet
could take for an iodin ration. find 1t difficult
| to take a drop of tincture once a week without
staining things Miss NJ. S. N.Y.
Answer-Yes there such tablets, but
| do not recommend them. No reason why any
| body should not keep vial of tincture Of
| iodin, with glass stopper. in the medicine ca b.
met, and simply shake up the vial to wet the
stopper, and then rinse the stopper in the
glass of water. That gives you your ration
| without any fuss or muss.
| That Austrian Legend
| In view OF the Enclosed statement do you still
refuse to believe anything Is absorbed by the
| skin? Is. q. J.)
| Answer-The inclosed statement u.s. esti-
| mate. the steenteen hundredth clipping have
| seen of the newspaper item telling of the dis
| covery of mysterious food substance which
| the charlatan says customers rub in
| through the skin. 1t would be great sport to
| put seal on the discoveries mouth and give
| him large supply of food to live on, per der
mum.
Copyright John F. Ollie Coz