Keeping the lid on infection: infection control practices of a regional Queensland hospital 1930-50

Nurses have played an important role in infection control practices throughout the past century. However, the desire for minimisation of cross infection has not always been the basis for many of the activities undertaken by nurses within the general ward. This paper is a historical analysis of those practices that formed the basis of infection control within the medical and surgical wards of the Rockhampton Hospital between 1930 and 1950. In particular, those activities dealing with the disposal of body fluids, ward cleaning, aseptic techniques and associated sterilisation of instruments and articles, the nurses' personal cleanliness and isolation nursing have been addressed. This study has identified economic factors, professional image and local traditions as being influential in the origins and persistence of many activities which may be loosely grouped as infection control measures.