‘Long before antibiotics, it was all nursing care’
Many of these nurses trained and practiced before the routine use of antibiotics and therefore the importance of hygiene was discussed frequently. They also shared techniques that were employed to treat patients with various infectious diseases before antibiotics were widely available.
In one interview, the impact of contagious diseases in the era before antibiotics featured significantly:
Another highlighted the importance of nursing care before antibiotics:
She continued with a discussion about a number of differing infections that had significant impact:
Learning the importance of hygiene at an environmental level was part of one participant’s training and cleaning was seen as part of the nursing role, as did many other participants:
She talked later in the interview about cleanliness in order to prevent infection:
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