70 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



one patient to another, and the knowledge that 

 staphylococci and streptococci are commonly found 

 upon the skin, in the mouth, and in the nasal 

 passages should be sufficient to prompt the 

 greatest care in taking temperatures by mouth, 

 in giving hypodermic injections, in the use of 

 catheters, rectal tubes, douche points, and medicine 

 glasses. 



The nurse's care of her own hands is of vital im- 

 portance to herself as well as to her patients ; in 

 caring for a patient she has no way of knowing what 

 bacteria his body may harbor, which may be a source 

 of danger to the next patient as well as to herself, 

 and for this reason she cannot be too careful about- 

 scrubbing (not simply washing or rinsing) her hands 

 after every bath, enema, douche, catheterization, 

 etc., as well as giving them scrubbing and disinfec- 

 tion before. 



At first sight the elaborate technicalities of oper- 

 ating-room work seems a hopeless and inextricable 

 tangle to the beginner ; but gradually the reasons and 

 results begin to define themselves, and slowly the 

 whole technique for the prevention of infection unfolds 

 itself, and the conscience which permits no lapses or 

 gaps in the chain which binds the whole together 

 begins to develop, until at last out of the laboratory 



