A "SILENT HOUR" IN HOSPITAL WARDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7545, 30 October 1902, Page 2

A "SILENT HOUR" IN HOSPITAL WARDS.

♦ — ■ — i A SECRET OF CONTENT. / (By " A NURSE," mi the l> Hospital.") " What is the secret, sister, of the happy content of your nurses and' patients?" asked a celebrated surgeon. "1 think, sir," she answered, "that it's due to our afternoon 'silent hour. 1 I never allow talking or amusement between two and three o'clock. This gives the patients a chance to sleep and the nurses to enjoy a hard-earned hour of repose. "Surely, in the annals of hospitals, there •ivever •wa* such * happy ward as this.. I ca.ri answer for that, as I have done hospital nursing in mest parts of the world, and under ail sorts a.nd conditions of ward rules. How we nurses appreciated that daily silent hour for ourselves and our patients only tired workers can understand. It was a male surgical ward. Sometimes a n*w case grumbled a. bit. when, ' a pow man was Tobbed of his newspaper.' But, after a day or two, he would fall under the influence of ' nod,' and volunteer to hide his book or paper, and our ward became, as a garden of sleep a fnv minutes after the clock struck two. Early waking is the rule of all hospital wards." wnd sick people really need a. restful interval in the long day. The bustle, routine and busy hum that goes on so unceasingly is very trying to bad cases. Talkative neighbours in near beds, the passing to and fro of hurrying student.*, ward visitor!?, and nurses on duty bent, make up an ever-moving panorama of activities 1 . A silent hour for dor.c «nd riesta is a. hygienic need in every sick ward, whether it 'bp medical, surgical, male, female, convalescent or children's. "It is the custom in all children's wards that I am familiar with to wind up the musical-boxes, serve out the toys, trumpets and noisf-producers immediately the cots and ward? have been ' cleared up ' after dinner. Some of those -little patients have been awake and on the gui vive eince daybreak. They are fractious antl tired. A silent hour should bs declared at two o'clock. Nearly nil would sink into refreshing sleep. At three o'clock the small world would wake, alert and bright, to enjoy the good things* from the hospital toycupbo3.nl. 1 know it—fov I have nursed, much among children, and have always enacted one quiet hour for my sick chicks^ when noisy play, and shout* and laughter were boycotted- --just for sixty minutes. " The good sister from whom I learnt thft- ' interval for silence ' wrinkle, iv the days of my probation, was invariably angry with ■her staff if she found them " fussing about ' in the forbidden hour. ' You need a, rest ..as badly as the patients. JSrijoy your novel, or stitch at .some fancy.- work, and don't stir from your nice cosy chair unless for urgent reasons or a bad case.' She herself confessed to a daily forty winks ' iv. h«r own room off the ward. . And how delightfully fresh Aye all usf-d to feel at three o'clock, after our leisurely siesta in the drowsy, droning ward, where the ticking of the clock was the only sign of Jife. Th© hospital porters soon tear-nt not to com« knocking and shouting at our ward door during that magic, reposeful hour. None of the ■nurses c:in e ver fovget their sufferings when- they were transferred' t-o other wards where restlessness and noise prevailed, more or les-*. throughout the day. How our lifad? and backs used to ache from tho constant hustle of our new surroundings. And how we longed, day by day, for that nice, undisturbed " sit. ' for a. whole hour in a comfortable old Windsor chair! It is not good for any sick p*rs*>n to he ' in evidence ' all day long. And there are usually somfe patients in a ward whrt arc seriously ill, and need periods of absolute quiet- and stillness. One silent hmn- in the day is art rosy ni!e to enforce.- It- snon comes to ho regarded as a. boon and a blessing by a.ll the patients— to say nothing of the nurses."