Preface
In preparing the subject-matter of this volume, whose title-page clearly indicates its design, the author has attempted to explain, in popular language and in the shortest possible form, the entire range of private nursing as distinguished from hospital nursing, and to instruct the nurse how best to meet the various emergencies of medical and surgical cases when distant from medical or surgical aid, or when thrown on her own resources, studiously refraining, however, from advising the nurse to act upon her own responsibility or to assume personal treatment of the patient except under circumstances of great urgency. There is simply placed before the nurse what the different diseases are, their characters and chief points of distinction and the attention required, their possible complications, and the treatment likely to be adopted in a given case by the family physician, so that suitable preparations may be made by the nurse.
An especially valuable feature of the work will be found in the directions to the nurse how to improvise everything ordinarily needed in the illness of her patient. In the sick-room the embarrassment of the nurse, through want of proper appliances due to unexpected conditions or to her environments, is frequently extreme; the difficulty may frequently be overcome by the simplest means when one possesses a knowledge of how to apply them.
There has also been attempted a logical division of the text, which includes the following sections:
- I. The Nurse; her responsibilities, qualifications, equipment, etc.
- II. The Sick-room; its selection, preparation, and management.
- III. The Patient; duties of the nurse in medical, surgical, obstetric, and gynecologic cases.
- IV. Nursing in Accidents and Emergencies.
- V. Nursing in Special Medical Cases.
- VI. Nursing of the New-born and Sick Children.
- VII. Physiology and Descriptive Anatomy.
The latter section, while sketched briefly, will be ample for the purposes of the nurse. The Appendix contains much information in compact form that will be of value, and the full Index presents a ready medium for quickly consulting any desired topic.
The numerous illustrations added will be serviceable aids in making clear the application of certain lines of treatment falling specifically to the work of the nurse.
Finally, this discussion, being based on a series of lectures delivered before the Carney Training-school for Nurses, will serve as a text-book for student nurses and a useful teaching-book for those occupying positions as teachers in training-schools; and it may prove interesting to the “home” nurse who wishes to comprehend something of the purposes of the different methods adopted in nursing-treatment.
The Author’s sincerest thanks are due to Dr. John R. Slattery for his technical revision of the work and for other kind assistance, and to all who have helped by friendly suggestions.
EMILY A. M. STONEY.
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