Lectures on medical diseases for nurses / by David Forsyth.

  • David Forsyth
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Lectures on medical diseases for nurses / by David Forsyth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the disease as described that is to be treated, and not the patient; whereas, of course, so one-sided a view could pro- duce results that are only partially satisfactory. When we remember that no two individuals react in quite the same way to one and the same cause of a disease, and that often, indeed, the differences are very marked, we cannot fail to realize the objections to the identical treatment of all cases of any one disease; and, in point of fact, a method of treat- ment that has proved successful in one case may signally fail in another. This being so, it is necessary to remember that not the disease alone, but rather the patient who is diseased, must be the objective of the treatment. In other words (adopting our definition of a disease as a disturbance of the bodily functions), we must treat each particular dis- turbance as it occurs in each particular patient, and must follow no cut-and-dried method, which, however appropriate on the whole to an average case of the disease, is perhaps suited in all its details to no case in particular. Consider for a moment some of the varying factors that must be taken into account. To begin with a simple instance. We know that some methods of treatment such as gargling are appropriate to adults, but inapplicable to young children. Again, the question of sex must be allowed for. Men, as a rule, dislike any method of treatment that confines them to bed; in fact, if their normal activity is interfered with, they are apt to chafe under the restraint, to begin to question the efficacy of the measure, even to throw it aside as not worth the candle. Women, on the other hand, made more familiar with ill-health by the exigencies of their sex, better appreciate the value of remedial measures, even if they bring only future benefit; they are more tolerant of prolonged and systematic treat- ment, and altogether make better patients. Yet again, over and above considerations of age and sex, the individuality of the patient himself or herself must never
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