foot bath to a patient in bed?

10. When and how should you give a cool sponge bath?

FOR FURTHER READING

The Human Mechanism--Hough and Sedgwick, Chapter XI.

CHAPTER VIII

APPLIANCES AND METHODS FOR THE SICK-ROOM

Patients who are confined to bed even for a few days often suffer
acutely from muscular tension, from pressure, and from fatigue due to
lack of exercise. Indeed, many a sick person is surprised to find that
the bed which had seemed so infinitely desirable can change into a place
of torment after a few short days of illness. "Bed-weariness" is hard to
bear in any case of illness, but it is doubly hard for persons who are
really helpless.

Unless the patient is an experienced sufferer he often has no idea what
should be done to make him comfortable; while an equally inexperienced
helper, though full of good will, is often discouraged to find that the
arrangement she had thought perfect soon fails to satisfy her restless
patient. But if she is willing to devote thought and ingenuity to
removing small annoyances, she can do many things to alleviate his
misery.

BED SORES, or pressure sores, are caused by continued pressure upon the
skin. The weight of the body, or of a part of the body, if it comes for
a long time upon one place finally interferes with the circulation in
the tissues on which the part rests, and consequently interferes with
the nutrition of the affected part. Any tissue to which the blood is not
bringing all its necessary food supply tends to lose its tone, to become
weak, and if the condition persists, to break down altogether.

The direct cause of bed sores then is pressure, and pressure is
aggravated by moisture, wrinkles in the bed clothes, crumbs or other
hard particles, lack of cleanliness, friction of any kind, or by rough,
careless handling. Bed sores occur most often over bony prominences,
such as the end of the spine, elbows, heels, shoulders, hips, ankles,
and knees, but they may form anywhere, even on the ears or back of the
head. They are more likely to appear on thin, aged, or depleted
patients. These painful and serious sores can be prevented almost always
by faithful care. When they occur, they result in the great majority of
cases purely from negligence, and a person who knows the danger and yet
through carelessness allows one to develop upon a patient may justly
feel herself disgraced.

Prevention of bed sores depends upon keeping the skin dry and clean a