trying" sick woman charming or
thoughtful, likable or sweet. Of course, it may be because the other
nurse weakens discipline and caters to the patient's whims; but it is
just as likely to be because she has tempered her care and her
strictness with understanding. She has grasped the patient's point of
view; and with that start, the chances are 50 per cent. more in favor of
the patient grasping and acceding to the wise nurse's point of view.

Shall we not remember that our trying, cranky, stubborn patient is a
sick person, and learn to treat that stubbornness or crankiness as a
symptom indicating her need, just as we would a rising temperature?

When we can meet her attitude with comprehension, and, if necessary,
with quietly firm disregard, then we are beginning to be good nurses.

Some of the most common of these sick reactions with which the nurse
must deal are enhanced suggestibility, repression, oversensitiveness,
stubbornness, fear, depression, and irritability. And each one demands
a different method of approach if real help is to be given.

Old Isaac Walton wrote a book many, many years ago called "The Complete
Angler." He was a famous amateur fisherman, and he says there are only
three rules to be observed and they will bring sure success:

1. Study your fish.
2. Study your fish.
3. Study your fish.

If the angler follows these directions, he is not apt to offer the wrong
bait. When he knows all their little peculiarities, he will know how to
catch his fish. The "complete angler" has an unlimited patience and an
infinite sense of repose and calm. He never hurries the fish, lest they
become suspicious of his bait. And he proves that these three rules
work.

The nurse who accepts every patient as like every other, and treats him
accordingly, will never be a great success. The nurse who "studies her
fish" and learns their psychology, will be a therapeutic force. She will
know the _why_ of the way that patient acts.

THE DELUDED PATIENT

If the patient's mind is temporarily clouded through infection or
suffering, he may be reacting to a delusion, an obsession, a fixed idea
of disability, a terrifying fear. Sometimes he persistently refuses
food, and gives no reason for it. The unthinking nurse is tried,
puzzled, and irritated. In other ways, perhaps, the patient seems quite
normal. But, after all, the explanation is very simple. He probably is
as confident that the food is poisoned as you are that