Management and construction of poorhouses and almshouses: Containing model plans of a poorhouse and of almshouses designed by Ninian Macwhannell, ... poorhouse buildings by different architects

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 Excerpt: ...have warm underclothing; or, has a large hernia--can work sitting; or, being an epileptic--is not suitable for window cleaning. It is a bad, and by no means an economical, policy to neglect the medical aspect of the case, and, for example, to condemn a subject of phthisis to the ordinary wards because he is insolent or drunken; to stint the nourishment of an acute pneumonia because his past is shady; to relegate venereal cases to the crude attentions of an inmate warder; or to consign the multi-parturient single woman to an inferior apartment on the plea that it is good enough for her, because her children are not the product of lawful wedlock. Rapid cures save the rates, and it is not only impracticable, but unfair to the Medical Officer, to require him to combine punishment with the healing process. On the other hand, every poorhouse has its quota of the refractory, who grumble despite every attention, and whose presence in a ward incites the other inmates to imitation. For these there can be nothing but isolation and privation of privileges. CLASSIFICATION. If the hospital accommodation permits, the Medical Officer should classify the patients in separate wards. Following the initial division into male and female, there should be wards for medical cases alone, others for surgical cases, with special side-rooms for those recently operated upon, and others for foul or offensive cases. In the wards for skin diseases the parasitic class should be separated from the others. Venereal cases, phthisis cases, sick children, and suspected infectious cases should all be treated in special wards. This applies also to maternity cases, and in the management of these it is of great advantage to have a matron or superintendent nurse who is fully qualified and certificat...