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48
DISINFECTION OF MIDWIVES.
The Midwives Act, 1902 (2 Edw. 7, c. 17), section 3, provides for the
formation of a Central Midwives Board, of which
"The duties and powers of the Board shall be as follows
1. To frame rules.
(e) regulating, supervising, and restricting within due limits the
practice of midwives;
The Rules framed by the Central Midwives Board in accordance with
section 3, sub-section 1 of the Midwives Act, 1902, and approved by the Privy
Council on the 12th August, 1903, for a period of three years, provide under
the heading (e) regulating, supervising, and restricting within due limits the
practice of midwives, and the sub-heading, Directions to Midwives, paragraph
5, "whenever a midwife has been in attendance upon a patient suffering from
puerperal fever, or from any other illness supposed to be infectious, she must
disinfect herself and all her instruments and other appliances, to the satisfaction
of the local sanitary authority, and must have her clothing thoroughly
disinfected before going to another labour. Unless otherwise directed by the
local supervising authority, all washable clothing should be boiled, and other
clothing should be sent to be stoved (by the local authority), and then exposed
freely to the open air for several days."
The Metropolitan Branch of the Incorporated Society of Medical Officers of
Health, in order to define "the satisfaction of the local authority," in July, 1906,
suggested Regulations for guidance (see Public Health, August, 1906, p. 636).
Suggested Regulations for the Disinfection of Midwives after attendance upon patients
suffering from Puerperal Fever.
Personal Disinfection.
The midwife, after attending a septic case, should take a complete hot bath,
including the thorough washing of the hair.'
Disinfection of Hands:—The careful disinfection of the hands requires
strict attention. The nails should be trimmed. The hands shoidd be washed
with soap and water, rinsed in clean water, soaked in methylated spirit, and
finally soaked in a solution of Corrosive Sublimate (1 in 1000) or other equally
efficient disinfectant for about ten minutes.
Disinfection of Clothing.
All articles of clothing worn while attending a septic case should be changed
for entirely fresh ones, the used clothing being handed over to the Sanitary
Authority for disinfection.
Disinfection of Apparatus.
The bag and apparatus used by the midwife should be handed over to the
Sanitary Authority for disinfection.