DANGER OF “TOO MUCH BED”

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14618, 11 March 1948, Page 4

DANGER OF “TOO MUCH BED”

SERIOUS RISK AFTER ILLNESS

DOCTOR EXPLAINS EFFECT ON BONES

An assault on the “formidable dangers” of keeping people in bed too long after and during illness has been launched bv Dr R. A. J. Asher, of Earls Colne, Essex. In an article in the British Medical Journal Dr Asher has rewritten the old hymn “Teach me to live that I may dread the grave as little as my bed,” for the benefit of his colleagues. His version runs:— Teach us to live that we may dread. Unnecessary time in bed. Get peonle up and we may save Our patients from an early grave. Dr Asher complains 'that it is always assumed that the first thing in any illness is to put the patient to bed. Hospital accommodation is alwavs numbered in beds; illness is measured by the length of time in bed: doctors are assessed by their “bedside manner.” “Yes,” he writes, “wo should think twice before ordering our patients to bed and realise that beneath the comfort of the blankets there lurks a host of formidable dangers.” Those include: Respiratory system.—The maintenance of one position . . . encourages the development cl hypostat.ic pneumonia. . Blood vessels.—Thrombosis and thromboembolism are some of the most disabling and lethal , catastrophies that bed rest can bring.

Skin.—The frequency and dangers of bed-sores are well known. Muscles and points.—The contraction of some muscles and the sti etching of others may cause considerable crippling. Bones.—When bones are not used the calcium drains from them. Nervous system.—Even a shoU spell in bed may produce a deterioration of mobility, and any length of time in bed may leave a patient bedridden. Mental Changes.—At the start it may produce fussiness, pettiness and irritability'; later a dismal lethargy overcomes the victim Dr Asher suggests that' bed snouid be prescribed and not assumed, that doctors should revise their attitude to rest where it is unsound, and that the eauinment and arrangment of wards should bo altered. “Too often a sister puts a l l her patients back to bed as a house wife, put all her plates back in the soys. “Patients would welcome a warm davronm with chairs and books.”