HEALTH NOTES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 18 July 1929, Page 8

HEALTH NOTES.

! HUME ISOLATION IXFECTiOUS DISEASED. (Contributed by Department of Health) For liho.se ill charge of infectious disease nursed at liome the Toli'owing is issued for their guidance. The room for the patient's use should b e sunny, wetl ventilated 'and free from unnecessary furniture, curtains, mats, etc. It should, if possible, be near the bathroom and lavatory, and it feasible these shoo'd be given \vj for the patient’s use. .If the haitdnrooin is not available. then washing facilities (at least two liaisins) should be provided in the room. A covered pail, a gixul maul brush, and a piece of plain soap' should bo provided. The nail brush;, when not in use. shorn'd bo placed in a dish and covered with some - weak 'antiseptic solution. (See later). Tln> room should lie kept clear, and I a system of moist sweeping and dusting" should be instituted. A plentiful supply of old linen should biu provided. This can be used instead of handkerchiefs, 'and can be. burnt when used Tf handkerchiefs ar e used they should he soaked in antiseptic (see later) bej fore being removed from the room. NUIiSE Oil ATTENDANT. 1 f possible, a .trained nurse should bo engaged, otherwise one member of the family should he exclusively detailed for nursing duties. The nurse should wear washable clothing with elbowlength .gleevos, and l an overall, l-ead covering, and pair of slippers provided. The overa'H should be kept hanging up just inside the room door, and should lie pint on whenever the nurse, enters the room and taken oil whenever she

leaves*. The some applies to the hea< covering and' slippers. The overa.l should extend from the neck to tin ankles, and the sleeves should read to th,© e'lbows, where they should In close-fitting. The chief duty of the nurse, apart from the attention required by the pa. tient, is to so carry out- her isolatior procedure that the danger of the other members of the family acquiring infection is removed. The following will indicate the main points of these requirements : Attention to hands. —The importance of adequate hand-scrubbing cannot be over-csti ainte d. Before removing her gown, and alter attending in any way to. tlie patient, the hands and forearms should be carefully wild thoroughly scrubbed. The'bands' should lie scrubbed for at least' two minutes. If the gown is to be removed, then .they should lie scrubbed for one minute, the gown removed and hung up, and then the Iraucl-washing completed. The water should be immediately emptied; into tho covered nail and fresh water placed in the basin. The hands and forearms should then lie thoroughly rinsed for one minute in an antiseptic solution (see Intcn which is kept in the other Ixisin. For wiping the hfincls, paper towels, which, are obtainable everywhere. should be used. After use., these towels should tie placed in a covered pail or into a. paper hag which is pinned on to the Mai''. This bag, when full, can be removed with its contents, and burned. No c-lofch towels* should be used a second time without being washed. The hand's should be washed each time the .attendant leaves the room to visit other parts of the' lionise;. Anyone else who enters the room should also wash their hand's before- leaving. Special l care should 1 be given to the hands if ait any time' they lieeomo soiled with excretions.

Dishes..—The patient’s dishes should be immediately taken to the kitchen and .placed in a pan of waiter and boiled. A special pan should he kept for the purpose, so that the attendant mav bning out infected dishes and 1 put there into the pan at once. The attendant or nurse must d ; t> nothing: else about the. kitchen until) their hands are washed. The. patient’s tra.v should he kept in the bedroom all the time, if desired, the patient’s dishes may be kept separate. In this .ease they should ha washed and stored apart from other dishes.

Soiled clothing.—All soiled clothing shonfld immediately be placed in a basket or galvanised iron receptacle or lfaig set aside for the purpose, and kept in the patient’si bedroom. The basket of clothes: should he brought out and the clothes immediately sterilised either by boiling or soaking in ankiseptc soluton for one hour. If no basket is- available the soiled clothes should lie wcrapned in a clean sheet before removal from patient's room. When emptied, the basket or other receptacle should lie immediately returned to' the isolation room.

Disposal of Excreta and Refuse.— Where there is water-carriage sewerage

‘ vstem. excreta can be'emptied directly bi the lavatory. Great care must be exercised to see that the seat is not splashed. and. except in disease's, like fvnhoid fever. dysentery. etc., the excreta mav he emptied into the ondillprivy. FURTHER PRECAUTIONS. In diseases like typhoid lever, an ’equal quantity of 1 in 20 caiilholic. or chloride, of lime, should lie added and all miasses broken down, .and the whole allowed to stand for one Pour. The excreta can then be emptied down a water lavatory or buried so> that not more than six to twelve inches of soil covers them. The bedpan or chamber should he cleased and ‘scalded” after each use. All scraps of food, soiled paper, etc., should he ini mediately disposed of by burning. A paper bag pinned on to the wad will be found uselul for depositing such things as ’linen, soiled with sputa, etc. The bag and contents can then be removed and the whole burned. It is- very important that all discharges of the. nose and throat be disposed of at once. In cases of .scarlet, fever, diphtheria, measles, particular care must lie taken in the disposal of discharges from the nose and throat.

The attendant need not be strictly confined to the room if she is careful in her technique. Regu’lar exercise in the open air is necessary for her own protection. Care should be taken not to inhale the patient’s breath, or allow him to cough in one’s face. No article of food that has .been in the. is irk room should he eaten by others, and anything that is removed from the sick room must, be regarded a.s infected! and tie a ted as such.

Books and Toys.—Only such books as can lie burned' should be used in the sick room, and the toys should lie of such a kind that they can be readily and completely sterilised, otherwise I lay should he burned. Visitors.—As a rule visitors should not lie permitted. but if necessity deiiiamls! I Ik'l persons other than the nurse should enter the room, then they should wear a gown and Lake the usual precautions' about, washing the hands. Reloii.se from Isolation.— 1 1'he patient should have a complete hot hath, using plenty of soap and water, and fresh clothing should he put on.

Ail dishes and utensils .should ho boiled: all blankets should 1 be soaked in disinfectant and then washed. All ho liable clothing should lie boiled. Articles'like an eiderdown quilt- should ho

I exposed to direct sunshine for at least six hours'. Toilet articles, hot. water • bottles and! other rubber goods which | might be injured by antiseptics should j pui. out in rbiio sum and air. j nique outlined above has been to dels trov infection as it anises during tho course of the disease, the necessity of a terminal fumigation of the room largely disappears if the technique has been thoroughly carried: out. The room and furniture should ba thoroughly washed, and. if possible, scrubbed, anti a.l'i windows opened so that I lie room gets, a good airing. It, is ais well to air the room for two day a before it i« again used, and! carpets, mattresses, pillows, etc. . should he well “sunned” and aired. Children, who have just recovered from certain infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, sometimes carry the germs in their noses and throats, so that for two or three weeks after release from quarantine the child should sleep by itself ami' certainly should not sleep with other children. If the other children have boon eonfc away from homo during the course of tlie illness .it is advisable not to let. them return home until a week has elapsed after quarantine lias- been lifted. . . , . The following antiseptic solutions are recommended: Try sol —One teaspoon fill to pint «i water —for keeping nail brush in. washing hands in. soaking linen in, etc. Carbolic acid' —1 part in 20 of water, for disinfecting excreta, washing over bedstead's, wire mattresse.s. etc. Chloride of lime—For disinfecting excreta,. " Formaline —-1-pint to about 4 gallons of water —-for fumigation bv spraying, disinfection of excreta, soaking blankets linen etc. Formaline lias the advantage of not being harmful to most articles. I