Hospital statistics and hospital plans / by Florence Nightingale.

  • Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hospital statistics and hospital plans / by Florence Nightingale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    water-closets and baths are at the angles of the wards, opposite the entrance, and are entirely cut off from the wards by a method of ventilation which insures any foul air being blown away from the ward. The large end window allows of easy ventilation during the night. In this hospital the fireplaces are in the walls, with a window over them. Each large ward has a separate scullery ; a matter of necessity, not choice. The two pavilions are cut off from each other by a large passage and staircase traversing the building. The kitchen and stores are under a separate roof. The hospital sergeant and orderlies are quartered in the centre of the building; and surgery and waiting- room are in the same position, as also a day room for convalescents. Thus the whole administration is concentrated in the middle, and the hospital sergeant can always know at any moment where each of his orderlies is, and where he is not, and what he is doing; and the same of each of his patients. There are no dark corners nor spare rooms, and “ skulking” is all but impossible. This plan, then, combines the greatest facilities for economy in administration, with efficiency of discipline, (which includes the utmost care for the sick and the utmost obedience from the conva¬ lescent,) and pure air for all. The Woolwich Hospital plan is simply an arrangement of a num¬ ber of these pavilions—each having two floors of wards, connected by a corridor one floor in height—under one general central admi¬ nistration for the whole hospital. There is one kitchen in a half basement under the library and chapel. It is connected with all the pavilions by a basement corridor, along which all diets, &c., are transported on rails and raised by lifts to each pavilion. There are separate shoots for foul linen and dust, hot and cold water are laid over the whole building, and there is a central bathing establishment besides the ward baths. There are separate wards for sick prisoners and for lunatics and others requiring segregation. There is a large library, also a dining and day room for con¬ valescents. The axes of the pavilions are arranged north and south, so as to have both walls exposed to the sun. The nearest pavilions are sixty-four feet apart, or double their height. The others are much more. The eight wards in the end pavilions have a free look out to the open country. The outer walls will be of white brick, to give the building a more cheerful appearance. The inner walls and ceilings are to be of polished Parian cement. In this hospital there will be two fireplaces in the centre of each ward. They are to be of terra cotta, constructed so as to give the greatest warmth. The flues will be carried under the ward floors, and up the side walls of the pavilions. This leaves the view of the ward open from end to end, and enables the nurse to see every bed from her room window. [There are to be female head nurses in this hospital.]