will suit the position, but do not offer your friend, as he may
have some favorite of his own to put in your place. Of course the
patient or her friends must know about the contemplated change--
that I take for granted. Having consulted the doctor, will make
everything satisfactory to the most careful practitioner. So, as
said before, never go away from your patient, leaving in your
place a nurse whom the doctor does not know. He has, in most
cases, selected you for his patient, and he wants you, you may not
be all he wishes you were, but still such as you are, _there_
you are, he knows what you can and what you cannot do; and it is a
great piece of impertinence for a nurse to go away unknown to the
doctor, leaving a stranger in her place. The consequence, so far
as he is concerned, will most likely be to have her name crossed
off his list as "unreliable"--so be careful.

As to your records, keep them faithfully; the doctor usually looks
them over very carefully, but sometimes you find one who passes
them over in a lofty manner, rather trying when you take such
pains with them. You may conclude that it is not necessary to keep
them accurately in such a case, but this same doctor may ask you
some day how long ago it was that the patient's temperature took
such a sudden rise, or how many days it is since she first had
solid food, and if you have accurately kept and carefully
preserved your records, you can tell without a moment's
hesitation. It is better, more business-like, and every way to be
commended, that the nurse should keep, and be exceedingly
particular about these records. If the doctor will write his
orders on the fresh daily record at his morning visit, it is a
great help to the nurse, but very often he is in a hurry and you
must write them yourself. If you have to do this, take your record