General nursing / by Eva C.E. Lückes.

  • Lückes, Eva C. E. (Charlotte Ellis), 1854-1919.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General nursing / by Eva C.E. Lückes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    struggling on with their work when they are really ill. Pew things are more annoying to those who are responsible for the welfare of nurses, and who are desirous of taking every care of their health, than to be told by some nurse who is needing medical attention that she knows she has had a temperature of over 100° Fahr. for the last two or three days, but that she did not mention it because she did not want to give in. Nurses scarcely ever want to give in, and few who know anything about the devotion of nurses to their work would ever suggest that they do. But no sensible woman would think it right, in ordinary circumstances, to remain on duty with a high temperature, or other definite symptoms of illness. After all, there is very little to admire in a nurse implying, with a sentimental air of would-be martyrdom, that she might have given in before. Had she spoken when she first felt ill, the chances are that she would have been off duty for a shorter time, and, in any case, she would have displayed more common- sense. No one wishes nurses to work when they are ill. It is good neither for them nor for their patients, and I have known very bad work result therefrom. It is impossible to get through regular work of any kind if the worker thinks fit to give in over every little ache and pain; but there is all the difference between this extreme and the foolishness of attempting to ignore definite symptoms of illness. There is plenty of room for much true self-sacrifice—none the less real because it may not strike others in the light of self-denial—which those who wish to be at their best in the service of others will think it worth while to make. Thought- ful nurses will do well to reflect on this view of the matter. Nurses need to be strongly warned about the eare^of extreme care that is necessary to immediately nurses' cover up any scratch or cut they may have on hands. their hands, be it ever so small, while they are