Never get into bed with your patient. This seems to most people a
quite unnecessary caution, but it is the commonest experience of
the successful nurse, that a woman, feeble and nervous, should ask
and almost insist that she shall lie down by her, or get into bed
with her. I always wonder that a sick woman can not realize that
she is not a pleasant bed-fellow, but she seldom does. Of course
you are not to tell her that she is not fit to sleep with, but you
_can_ say that she needs and ought to have the whole bed to
herself, and you will sit by her and hold her hand, or if she
insists on it, you can lie down, with your house gown on, on the
_outside_ of the bed, being careful to give her plenty of
space, and when she is asleep, get up quietly and lie down on your
lounge, which should be placed so that you can see her every
movement.

Never let the patient think for a moment that you fear her
disease; if she has diphtheria, do not tell her or the family that
you have a delicate throat or that it is sore, and do not examine
it by the help of a hand-glass where any one can see you. Do not
go to such cases if you really fear them, but if you go, and have
reason to feel that you have contracted the disease, tell the
doctor as soon as you can, and if he thinks you ill, he will send
you home. Never tell a patient you have a weak back or any
weakness. Tell the doctor and he will see to it that you have rest
or medicine, but do not let the patient know it. Never go about a
sick room with a long face; it is enough for the sick one to have
to be sick; the family sympathies are all enlisted for her. You
are there to be a help and a comfort, not an added anxiety. Of
course these remarks do not apply to any of you who are tired from
a long, exhausting case. The family in such instances are ready