Authors

Teresa Miralles Sangro

Position

Enfermera asistencial y profesora de la EUE de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.

Contact address

C/Samaría, 4, 3º Izq. 28009 Madrid

Contact email: tmiralles@jazzfree.com

Abstract

A review of the literature, encompassing social trends from the XVI century and the nursing scope from the end of the XIX century, was performed with the aim of determining the origin and history of an instrument of daily use known as "pitcher", taking as the starting point the definition of the term and the study of its etymology. Given that the pitcher was an instrument used for the sick that were bed-bound, and given that sick people were and are still cared for mainly by the female members of the family or the immediate surroundings, a small survey was conducted amongst the different women in our setting, both nurses and non nurses.

The article describes several aspects: the difficulty encountered by caretakers to administer liquids without spilling to a sick person lying on the bed; the popular use of the pitcher; the type of foods that could be administered through the device, the time when nurses began to use the device; the healthcare culture, and the professional nursing model, and finally its craftsmanship and manufacturing.

The article goes on to show the utility of the device and how generalised and frequent its use was, initially as a domestic utensil used by mothers, wives or sisters inside the family unit, or by the caretaker looking after the sick; and then its use in a healthcare setting, including hospitals, sanatoriums and asylums by nurses and nuns.

Keywords:

History of the nursing profession; pitcher; nursing care; ancillary equipment for feeding; feeding of bed-bound subjects

Versión en Español

Título:

Historia del Pistero