Lectures on gynecological nursing / delivered by Edward J. Ill M.D., to the Nurses of St. Barnabas Hospital of Newark, New Jersey, ; reported by Ellen F. Connington.
- Ill, Edward J.
- Date:
- 1901
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Lectures on gynecological nursing / delivered by Edward J. Ill M.D., to the Nurses of St. Barnabas Hospital of Newark, New Jersey, ; reported by Ellen F. Connington. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![H GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. It is important for the nurse that she should make some general observations about the person of her patient. She should report to the doctor any soreness, swelling, pro- tuberance, discharges, cough, expectoration and the character and quantity of urine excreted; also shape, form, consistency and odor of the recta] discharges. In the gynecological cases observe especially anything that may appear wrong about the private parts of the patient. The character, odor and quantity of discharge from the vagina. Report to the doctor any peculiar and bad habits vou may notice about your patient. Of the latter it willl be wise not to speak of to the patient herself. Of the character of the vaginal discharge you should note especially whether it is bloody or foul smelling; if it is bloody, whether it is bright red or dirty brown, whether it is thin or thick, or clotted. At times there wijl be a j'ellow-white or glary discharge of ropy, thick or thin fluid. MENSTRUATION. Among the vaginal discharges which occur normally we bave the discharge of menstruation. By menstruation is un- derstood a flow of blood from the uterus recurring at certain intervals and connected with the ripening or discharge of an ovule from the ovary. While this discharge of the ovule from the ovary may not always happen at the exact time of menstruation it usually occurs near it. At all events the ovary is the exciting cause of menstruatioUj^ It is called a normal and a physiological menstruation when a woman be- tween the age of puberty, usually from twelve to fourteen years, until the time of the climacteric, from forty-five to fifty years of age, has a periodical flow of blood. Normally this occurs once in twenty-eight days. It usually lasts from four to six days, and it is accompanied by some slight general malaise and uneasiness. The quantit}^ of the bloody discharge is not always easy to ascertain. The usual way is to inquire as to the number of nai3kins a patient soils. Two napkins a day should be considered about normal. The habits of the patient during her former ,life in this regard should be taken into consideration. For what might be a normal quantity for one woman v/ould prove an excessive quantity for another one. That loss which proves a source of exhaustion to any woman is certainly a pathological quantity.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21217774_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
