The nursing and care of the nervous and the insane / by Charles K. Mills.

  • Mills, Charles K. (Charles Karsner), 1845-1931.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nursing and care of the nervous and the insane / by Charles K. Mills. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    38/162 (page 36)
    In meningitis, in tetanus, in delirium tremens, as well as in fevers, and in some forms of insanity to be hereafter considered, the treatment of delirium will call for the intelligent help of the nurse. No matter to what the delirium is due, quiet and peace are always essential. Usually the room should be kept not only quiet but to some extent darkened. Care should be taken not to unnecessarily jar the bed. Loud talking, laughing, or any form of noise, should be interdicted. In brief, nothing should be done to startle or excite. In acute alcoholic delirium the mental condition of the patient is sometimes one which requires extreme care. Terrible anxiety with frightful hallucinations of sight and hearing are present. Sleeplessness is continuous. The patient must be vigilantly watched, must be soothed and comforted, and if necessary must be restrained. When delirium becomes so violent that it is absolutely necessary to use temporary physical restraint, the greatest possible care should be exercised. Physical restraint is indeed seldom necessary, and should always be avoided if possible. A patient can sometimes be wrapped in a sheet or blanket for a time. It is not within the scope of the present chapter to go into details as to food and its preparation. Such details belong more properly to a work on dietetics. I will only say that in the management of nervous patients of different classes attention to diet is often of the great- est importance. Sometimes, as in the so-called rest treatment, a special milk diet is ordered, or a diet in which the patient is restricted to certain articles pre- pared in certain ways. The orders given should be