A nurse's handbook of obstetrics . hers milk can beprocured. If the child weighs four and one half pounds, or more, it needonly be clothed and kept warm in a basket or box as temperature is to be maintained about 850 F., and ventila-tion, moisture and complete freedom from draughts must besecured. Gas or electricity heated incubators are generally installed inthe large hospitals. Some stations, however, use no incubators,but a specially constructed incubating room where the tempera-ture, moisture and ventilation are under perfect control. A smallroom in a private house answering
A nurse's handbook of obstetrics . hers milk can beprocured. If the child weighs four and one half pounds, or more, it needonly be clothed and kept warm in a basket or box as temperature is to be maintained about 850 F., and ventila-tion, moisture and complete freedom from draughts must besecured. Gas or electricity heated incubators are generally installed inthe large hospitals. Some stations, however, use no incubators,but a specially constructed incubating room where the tempera-ture, moisture and ventilation are under perfect control. A smallroom in a private house answering these demands is ideal. Inits absence, if the baby weighs less than four and a half poundsan incubator may be rented or purchased and the child (dressedas mentioned above) placed in it at the earliest possible moment The principle of all incubators is the same, the only differ-ence being in the construction of the various kinds. It has longbeen known that the air surrounding a premature infant must A NURSES HANDBOOK OF Fig. 170.—Electrically heated infant incubator. INCUBATOR. 351 be kept exceptionally warm, and formerly this was accomp-lished by heating the room occupied by the child to a stiflingtemperature, to the great discomfort of the nurse or other at-tendant. Fig. 172 shows an incubator designed in 1880. Warmth maybe supplied by the use of hot-water bottles, water tank, hot air,steam, gas, or electricity. The incubator is nothing but a miniature room in which theinfant can lie, and is so arranged that its temperature can beregulated to any desired degree, while the interior can always beinspected through a glass in the top. Beyond this ability to con-trol the temperature perfectly, the only other essential featureof a satisfactory incubator is the apparatus which provides forits thorough ventilation. The incubator is usually heated by means of hot water, andthis either circulates through a system of pipes, one portion ofwhich is exposed to a gas or alcoho
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