Yes, indeed. In nursing Preliminary Training School in the 1950s our first practical lessons were in Hygiene. Hand washing, clean uniforms, but especially environmental hygiene had priority over other clinical skills.
We had to clean the practice suite top to bottom before lessons started: ‘damp dusting’ of all surfaces, the floor was strewn with damp tea leaves to collect under-bed dust after beds had been stripped and rubber mattresses disinfected with carbolic acid solution. Domestics would snarl “Get out of my way nurse!” if one tarried at the metal bedside lockers with one’s damp rag.
Bathrooms were scoured, and rubber bladder catheters soaking in carbolic tubs were freed of gunge and hung up to dry, ready for re-use. ‘Waste not Want not’ was the Golden Rule, and used bandages were washed and re-rolled for use on other limbs, heads and torsos.
Door knobs were burnished with Brasso. After this was done, the blackened rags had to be washed by hand and hung up to dry on the bathrail.
Sister’s desk was polished. My first ward sister kept a tin of Harrod’s furniture polish for her desk top. It was considered a test of one’s having internalised the Rules of Hygiene to be given this task. If one did not get a rebuke, one had passed. A haughty sniff from Sister suggested a bare pass had been achieved.
Beds had to be spaced at Nightingale-ordained positions, measured by Sister’s rule, to prevent cross infection. Sash windows were opened at the top to allow the stale air to escape. Alternate windows were opened at the bottom to provide an up-draught. This was called the Hinks Rule.
Patients who complained of a cold draught were sometimes given a tubular gauze helmet to wear if their hair was sparse. Such hats were in Sister’s gift to dispense.
Cross infection was very rare. Purulence the cardinal sin. We washed our hands till they were red raw. No-one wore rubber gloves. There were no paper towels in those days, no disposable wipes. Incontinence was cleaned up with tow, a coarse brown fibrous material pulled off an all-purpose roll. We always used bare hands for such tasks, and sometimes a rubber apron.
Infection was regarded as a failure. The only antibiotics available were crystalline penicillin, streptomycin, and a handful of sulphomamides. During my initial training tetracycline was introduced for the first time.
Just a historical perspective, maybe of some interest in the current situation, from a living witness to how complacent society has become?
