View report page

94
ference had to be looked for in something other than neglect
of the rules of the rigid regime of nursing which was introduced
at the commencement of the experiment. It was
observed that in the making of beds the air of the ward in
the neighbourhood of the bed-making process became suddenly
charged with particulate matter consisting of woollen threads
from blankets and cotton threads from sheets, and quickly
little balls of fluff could he seen being carried along the ward
floor by air currents. This material on being subjected to
bacteriological examination was found to be charged with
hemolytic streptococci represented in the serological types
found in the nose and throat qf patients being nursed in the
ward.
The following report is subscribed by Dr. Joyce Wright,
Research Scholar of University College Hospital, London. It
is an absorbing account of work done in connection with
scarlet fever and the immensity of voluntary work carried out
by Dr. Wright is but modestly represented in the report itself,
it is difficult to assess adequately the volume, technical skill
and time involved in work of this kind. Moreover, its value
in the field of scientific research is unquestionably great, for
only by such work can complications, relapses and other disturbing
factors be studied with complete understanding.
Dr. Joyce Wright's report of work at Hendon
Isolation Hospital, 1937—1939.
"In collaboration with the medical staff of the
Hendon Isolation Hospital I have made an investigation
into the comparative incidence of change of hemolytic
streptococcal type in patients in scarlet fever wards
nursed (a) by the bed isolation method and (b) by the
ordinary open method.
The routine precedure was as follows:—from all
patients and nurses in these wards swabs were taken from
the throat and from any suppurative lesion found (a) on
admission, (b) at a routine weekly swabbing and (c) at
the onset of any complication, e.g., rhinorrhoea, cervical
adenitis, otitis media, mastoiditis.