The nurse in hot climates / by Edward Henderson.

  • Edward Henderson
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nurse in hot climates / by Edward Henderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hot fomentations and wet packs are frequently used in the treatment of bowel cases, but it may be safely assumed that the trained nurse has nothing new to learn regarding the value of these or the details of their application, which for all practical purposes are the same in hot climates as in England. lf nothing more than warmth and support is wanted, a single or double fold of cotton wadding, laid aver the abdomen under a broad bandage or cummerbund, will do all that is required. For the application of dry heat Manson recommends the use of the flat tin boxes made in Japan, in which charcoal cartridges are burned; the boxes should be encased in flannel. TEMPERATURE IN BowEL CASES. I have already spoken of temperature taking as one of the nurse’s duties, needing on the whole closer attention in hot than in temperate climates. In many cases of bowel disorder the thermometer gives important indications as to the nature, pro- gress, and possible complications of the disease. Thus, a sudden rise in temperature in acute diarrhea or dysentery may show the bowel affection to be really due to the poison of malaria; while in a chronic case, a recurring rise of temperature in the afternoon or evening may be for weeks the only symptom pointing to the formation of a centrally placed liver abscess. In cholera the thermometer is only of real service after reaction has set in. In acute dysentery, not connected with malaria or complicated with liver abscess, its indications are not of much value; with regard to these cases it should be noted, that in some of the worst the temperature of the patient may be little above normal throughout the illness. Taken along with other symptoms, such as restlessness, delirium, and a failing pulse, a subnormal temperature in dysentery indicates destructive ulceration of the bowel and a fatal termination,
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