Wise and humane management of the patient is the best safeguard against infection.
Go into a room where the shutters are always shut (in a sick-room or a bed-room there should never be shutters shut), and though the room be uninhabited-though the air has never been polluted by the breathing of human beings, you will observe a close, musty smell of corrupt air-of air unpurified by the effect of the sun's rays.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of fresh air and sunlight for a healthy environment, especially in places of illness.
Florence Nightingale highlights the detrimental effects of stale, unventilated air in environments that are meant to support healing, such as sick-rooms or bedrooms. She points out that even a room unoccupied by people can carry a musty smell, which signifies the absence of fresh air and sunlight, both of which are essential for a healthy atmosphere. This serves as a reminder of the importance of proper air quality and natural light in promoting health and well-being.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation on health and wellness, this quote could be used to advocate for the importance of clean air in recovering from illness.
More from Florence Nightingale
All quotes →For us who Nurse, our Nursing is a thing, which, unless in it we are making progress every year, every month, every week, take my word for it we are going back. The more experience we gain, the more progress we can make.
Everything you do in a patient's room, after he is 'put up' for the night, increases tenfold the risk of his having a bad night. But, if you rouse him up after he has fallen asleep, you do not risk - you secure him a bad night.
If I could give you information of my life it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything.
The true foundation of theology is to ascertain the character of God. It is by the aid of Statistics that law in the social sphere can be ascertained and codified, and certain aspects of the character of God thereby revealed. The study of statistics is thus a religious service.
I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.
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