Nursing in diseases of the throat, nose, and ear / by Macleod Yearsley.

  • Yearsley, Macleod, 1867-1951.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nursing in diseases of the throat, nose, and ear / by Macleod Yearsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fomentations will be required ; the patient must be made as comfortable as possible ; a watch must be kept for signs of laryngeal obstruction, and, above all, the feeding must be attended to most carefully. The temperature and pulse must be noted frequently, as the surgeon has to watch for septic intoxication and for symptoms warning him of heart failure. The patient's strength must be kept up by plenty of nourishment and by brandy. Tonsillectomy. The after-treatment of removal of the tonsils is one of common sense. Much of what has already been said of the after-treatment of operations for post-nasal adenoid growths (Chapter VI.) applies here. It is certainly wiser to confine the patient to the house for a clay or two after the operation, and to keep him in a warm and equable temperature. In so doing, however, the necessity for pure air should not be lost sight of, for when a patient is ordered to be kept in a warm room, those who have charge of him too often seem to consider that the order means confinement to a hot, stuffy chamber, in which ventilation and fresh air are con- spicuous by their absence. For the first few days the food should be of a soft, bland character (see below, causes of haemorrhage after removal of the tonsils). A mild antiseptic gargle or spray may be used, and to minimise the pain of swallowing a cocain lozenge or pastille should be sucked before taking food. Pain may be relieved by sucking ice or a cocain lozenge. Much has been said or written as to un- due haemorrhage after tonsillectomy. Dangerous