TREATMENT OF THE SICK ROOM 



245 



combs or brushes used by other members of the family, 

 for other cases of the disease would be sure to follow. 



Nurses. Those who nurse the patient should take 

 special care in a number of directions. They should 

 have a change of clothing to put on when they leave the 

 sick room to mingle with the rest in the house ; they 

 should wash their hands frequently with some disin- 

 fectant to be mentioned later, especially after handling 

 the patient, his bedding or his clothes. They should be 

 especially careful to avoid putting their fingers into their 

 mouths, for in many diseases this is a common means of 

 infection. A nurse who carefully observes these precau- 

 tions is much less liable to infection from any of the 

 diseases. The face also requires frequent washing. The 

 hair is a particularly good lodging place for bacteria, and 

 a good nurse wears a cap to protect her head in cases of 

 contagious diseases. 



Treatment of the Sick Room. After the recovery of 

 the patient it is necessary that the room he has occupied 

 should be thoroughly disinfected before any other mem- 

 bers of the household are allowed to enter it. The method 

 of disinfection will be found in another place. We will 

 here only emphasize the fact that in order to prevent the 

 appearance of other cases of the disease such disinfection 

 is absolutely necessary before the room is occupied by other 

 people. 



The treatment after recovery from a contagious disease 

 is sometimes difficult to determine. So far as concerns 

 the patient himself, the proper procedure after recovery 

 is to bathe himself thoroughly in a disinfectant solution 

 suitable for this purpose, the disinfection or bathing 



