VENTILATION OF THE SICK ROOM.
By A. J. Sanderson, M.D.
Of all places where fresh air is needed, and where respired air becomes entirely unfit to support life, the sick-room stands pre-eminent. Altho as a rule it is the mistaken tendency of the sick to exclude the fresh air, which in reality they urgently need, in nearly all cases of illness there is an enfeebled reaction to resist exposure. This is cultivated on the part of the invalid by his having clothed and protected himself more and more against strong and beneficial external influences. Having created the unnatural condition by which nature's largest benefits have become a source of annoyance and danger to him, he often intensifies this condition by his acquired morbid fear of fresh air. The amount of impurities that are exhaled from the tissues of the body are greatly increased in any sickness, and oftentimes the atmosphere is contaminated, not only by this increased amount of poisonous product, but often actually diseased germs mingle themselves with the respired atmosphere of the invalid. Nowhere is fresh air and sunshine so much needed as in the place where the sick constantly abide. This is essential, both in the interests of the patient and the attendant. The necessity for tissue repair and renovation is greatly increased, and, on the other hand, the powers of respiration and free circulation of the blood are lessened. Hence the urgent necessity of keeping the atmosphere in the room as fresh and as abundant and as full of sunlight as possible. When the sick-room is kept closed, the greatest restoring agent is withheld; and the chances for recovery are very much lessened. The methods of ventilating a sick-room are not different from those which apply to ordinary dwellings, but they must be taken care of with far greater vigilance. The atmosphere must be changed in such a way that the temperature of the room will not be constantly altered, and drafts must be avoided. Ventilation must be kept up at night as well as in the day. The dread of night air that is acquired by some patients under ordinary circumstances is but a morbid fear. If the room is properly heated, as much air can be admitted as during the day; and if the case does not demand artificial heat, the proper clothing should be used, and the air should be allowed to enter, even if it is not heated. The atmosphere of the sick-room may be kept as dry or as moist as is best for the case in hand. In acute diseases, especially those of the respiratory tract, it is best that there should be a moist atmosphere. In chronic diseases, especially of the lungs, a dry atmosphere is preferable. Cold air is not necessarily pure air, so one must not relax his vigilance on the ground that the atmosphere feels cold. All patients, especially those who are susceptible, should be arranged in the room where they will avoid all drafts. This can be done by properly arranging the position of the beds, and carefully directing the air-currents that enter the room. If a patient is near a window, on a cold day he is liable to feel the draft, not from fresh air, but from the atmosphere of the room coming in contact with the glass and being chilled, and thus in its downward flow toward the floor it creates a slight draft, which is made up of impure air rather than fresh air, and is consequently even more unwholesome to the individual. If a room seems to be drafty whatever position the bed may be placed in, a high screen placed before the bed will often give the patient the proper protection. It requires but little effort to arrange all these details so that the patient may have the benefit of the best life-restorer and blood-purifier that nature provides. The opening wide of the windows of a sick-room, and changing the atmosphere completely, will be of great benefit to the patient, and can usually be accomplished during the warmer and most sunshiny part of the day. If the patient is very susceptible, and you have conveniences to do so, he might be11moved to the adjoining room, while the room, bedding, etc., is being thus thoroughly aired. Houses that are situated in damp and marshy places, where there is constantly a great deal of slow decomposition or oxidation going on in the soil, should have the sleeping rooms and sick-chamber arranged in the second story of the dwelling. This will avoid the danger of an infected atmosphere that often exists near the ground in places where houses are located on low, wet places. The sick-chamber is not the only place where sick people are met. Thousands of people who go daily about the streets and gather in public halls have conditions of the system which lead to the exhaling of manifold more poisonous and obnoxious products than are ordinarily exhaled by the individual. This is a vital reason why public buildings should be thoroughly ventilated. Where a large number of people are gathered in a single room, there are always a number of persons whose breath is more than ordinarily poisonous, and this necessitates proportionately-increased ventilating facilities in order that others shall not suffer.