The hygiene of the room where the patient is

In a separate apartment consisting of several rooms, first of all it is necessary to decide which of the most appropriate to place the patient. Of course, one should proceed from where the patient will least interfere with others. A family in which there is a sick person who requires care, voluntarily assumes quite serious obligations to surround a person close to them with sincere warmth, cordial attention, to endure many inconveniences and limitations in their usual regime and the comfort of life. Therefore, to the smallest detail, we need to think over all the conditions of everyday, psychological, sanitary and hygienic nature that will facilitate recovery of the patient, alleviate his physical and mental suffering associated with the disease, reduce the severity of clinical manifestations of the disease.

Based on the above provisions, the patient is most convenient to be in his room, if he has one in the apartment. If we are talking about a child, then such a room, of course, is a nursery, and if one of the spouses, then, of course, one should keep in mind the bedroom. In the latter case, when infectious( contagious for the surrounding) diseases for the period of illness of the husband or wife to another, the spouse must arrange a place to sleep in another room. However, other options are possible that meet the following basic requirements.

First, the room should be quite spacious. In conditions of small-sized apartments, the marked position can not always be fulfilled. At the same time, this should be sought. You can take out of the room part of the furniture or household items that clutter the room and where there is no need during the time there is a patient. It should also be borne in mind that the patient should not be surrounded by objects that accumulate dust and can not be wet cleaned. The larger the airspace in the room where the patient is, the fewer objects that restrict it, the better the conditions are created for the patient to breathe freely, so necessary for all diseases, especially in the pathology of the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, infectious diseases, in the postoperative period.

The problem of fresh air in the patient's room is largely solved by rational airing. In warm, windless weather, a window or window in the room can be opened for a considerable part of the time, ensuring a constant flow of fresh air into the room. In this case, it should be provided that the bed of the patient is not in the draft. Rapid movement of air can contribute to the occurrence of colds, and in weakened patients, even in severe form. In winter, as well as in cool and windy weather, the patient's room should be regularly ventilated.

The frequency of airing the room depends on many conditions, but primarily on the size of the room, the air temperature both on the street and at home, the nature and intensity of the room's heating, the severity of the disease and the patient's individual sensitivity to fresh air. Therefore, in each specific case it is necessary to take into account these and many other factors that sometimes arise unexpectedly in the process of caring for the patient. It should be noted that the airing of the room must necessarily be done in the morning after a night's sleep and toilet, washing and hygienic procedures, in the evening before going to bed, and at least 3-4 times during the day. If the patient is on strict bed rest and recovers on the ship, then after each defecation or enema the room should be ventilated to remove from the room an unpleasant odor. The duration of ventilation is from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature and wind. To flow, air from the window or window was not sharp, you can attach a gauze to the window frame, which will significantly reduce the entry from the street into the room of dust. Flies and insects are protected by special nylon nets, also reinforced on the window.

In the room where the patient is, we must try to maintain the air temperature within 19-21 ° C without hesitation, exceeding these limits. To sharp changes in the temperature of the surrounding air, patients are very sensitive, so the bed should not be placed in the immediate vicinity of the window( a stream of cold air), as well as near the central heating batteries or stoves. In all cases, if the patient's room is small in size with insufficient air volume, and the patient is experiencing certain inconveniences in this regard, the door to other rooms or the corridor should be kept open. This will ensure a sufficiently good air circulation, especially if in other( adjacent) rooms a window is regularly opened. One can not but forget that the sharp and unpleasant( for the sick) smells of the kitchen, cosmetics, household chemicals, etc. have a very unfavorable effect on the patient's well-being and therefore should not enter the room where the patient is. Cooking in the kitchen should be done with the door closed, cleaning the apartment should prevent the smells of detergents from penetrating into the patient's room.

The second important position, requiring the utmost attention of caring for the patient and rigorous performance, is cleanliness in the room. Cleaning of the room must be done every morning, after the patient is washed, fed and the bed is trimmed. One of the tasks of cleaning is dust removal. In the dust are microbes of infectious diseases, so a patient, whose body is weakened by the underlying illness, is easily susceptible to other, particularly infectious, diseases. Dust should be washed with a cloth soaked in water or in a disinfectant solution. Such cleaning is called wet: with it the dust does not scatter, but remains on the rag. Use a vacuum cleaner in the room where a heavy patient is, should not be, since the noise of a loudly working motor adversely affects the patient. Cleaning of the room where the patient is in is carried out in such a sequence: they sweep the floor in a damp way, wipe furniture, doors, windows, pens, panels, leaves of house plants, heating batteries, care items, etc. with a damp clean rag. Painted, lacquered or linoleum floors are washed with a rag using a disinfectant solution, wipe dry.

Parquet floors are waxed, regularly swept with a floor brush and wiped with some kind of dusting solution. At the end of the cleaning of the premises, windows( in the warm season) or a window leaf( in winter) must be opened for ventilation. Before going to bed, wet cleaning and airing the patient's room are mandatory.

Wet cleaning of the rest of the apartment is also necessary to conduct daily, ending with a full airing of rooms, kitchens, corridors. In the bathroom and toilet, the sinks, toilet bowl, bidets are washed at least once a day with hot water with soap or detergent solutions, and treated with disinfectants. In all these premises, a complete wet cleaning is carried out. The bath after its use must be thoroughly washed and rinsed with a disinfectant solution.

Lighting the room where the patient is located is important. Sun rays penetrating the room, raise the mood of the patient, which is very beneficial for the disease, stimulates the increase in the defenses of weakened patients, improves the vital activity of many organs and systems. All this should be taken into account already when choosing a room to put a patient there. Window glass should be kept in absolute cleanliness, so that daylight penetrates into the room as much as possible. At the same time, windows should have curtains and tulle curtains to provide the possibility to reduce the flow of light during the patient's afternoon rest, to prevent early morning awakening of the patient, to create darkening conditions in the room at any time when the patient is tired and the bright light will beto irritate.

Artificial lighting in the room should not be too strong, but capable of giving good lighting to the room. A very convenient device that regulates the degree of illumination of a patient's room is the rheostatic light switch, manufactured by the electrical industry. It should be noted that artificial lighting does not irritate the patient with direct, bright rays. Maximum light comfort is provided by a floor lamp, sconces or table lamps, which are placed at some distance from the head of the patients and have shades with frosted glass. At night, it is required to provide an emergency lighting. For these purposes there are special nightlights installed on the bedside table.