View report page

29
After Care.
Those cases which have received treatment at Harts Sanatorium
are seen, as a routine, soon after discharge and are carefully
made to realise that their discharge from Sanatorium does
not complete their treatment. They are all frankly informed that
unless they realise that they must continue to live a form of life in
keeping with their disease and take advantage of the education in
the mode of living which they have received in the Sanatorium,
especially with regard to their non-working hours, they run
a real risk of a relapse. The more intelligent patients do realise
this and always with considerable advantage to themselves.
The recent advances in the Treatment of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis.
These are being made full use of for those cases which are
likely to benefit and as time goes on, surgical collapse of the
lung is being found to be increasingly useful for those patients
who are unsuitable for pneumothorax treatment.
Prevention.
From a preventive point of view also, the Dispensary is of
considerable value, especially in the advice it gives in the mode of
living to those infected with the disease and its warning of the
ask of infecting the contacts.
The Work of the Tuberculosis Nurses and the need of
an additional Nurse.
The work that our two trained tuberculosis nurses do, both
at the Dispensary and in the patients' homes, would appear to be
insufficiently recognised, and it will be of advantage to enumerate
their duties, as 1 am of opinion that unless another trained nurse
be obtained to assist us in our work, very necessary duties will
have to be neglected.
Among their duties, those of :—
(a) Primary visits in notified cases where diagnosis is confirmed
at the Dispensary.
(b) Secondary visits where patients have not attended after
appointments have been made for examination at the
Dispensary.