Nursing Care Given to the Plague Infected Patients in the Hospital General of Madrid (Spain) in the 17th Century.

Abstract

espanolEl presente estudio muestra el trabajo desarrollado por los enfermeros del Hospital General de Madrid (Espana) en el tratamiento de la peste y la formacion que recibian en el siglo XVII. Desde finales del siglo XVI, los enfermeros conocian y aplicaban un amplio conjunto de tecnicas y medicamentos para aliviar la terrible enfermedad de la peste, a pesar del reducido conocimiento que sobre ella existia en la epoca. Los enfermeros buscaban la prevencion del contagio y la mejora de la salud de los enfermos en base a medidas higienicas y dieteticas en un entorno de aislamiento fisico. Este estudio muestra en que condiciones trabajaban los enfermeros para enfrentarse a esta terrible enfermedad. Todo ello nos ira mostrando la evolucion experiementada por el trabajo enfermero desde el siglo XVI y como ha ido conformandose la profesion. EnglishThis study reveals the work developed by the nurses of the Hospital General of Madrid (Spain) in the treatment of the plague, and the training they received for their welfare tasks in the 17th century. Since the end of the 16th century, nurses knew and implemented a set of techniques and medicines to alleviate the terrible disease of the plague and, despite the scarce knowledge about the disease existing at the time, they sought to prevent the contagion with hygienic and dietary measures, and physical isolation. This study shows through which actions and in which conditions nurses worked to deal with such a terrible disease. All this helps to get a full knowledge of the development of the work done by nurses in the last five centuries and, therefore, to determine the evolution and shaping of the nursing profession in our country.