In many cases of fever in which the temperature rises so high as to
produce delirium, the ordinary pack does not seem to be sufficiently
powerful to fully control the excessive heat. In such cases, the shower
pack is found of great service; it is thus used in Bellevue Hospital,
New York:—
A rubber blanket is placed upon an ordinary mattress. Upon this, the
patient is placed, enveloped in a wet sheet, as in the ordinary pack.
Instead of being covered with blankets, however, he is left exposed to
the air, so that the powerful cooling effects of evaporation may be
obtained. As the sheet becomes warmed by the heat of the body, cool
water is showered upon it from a sprinkler or watering-pot. The bath is
continued thus until the temperature of the patient, as indicated by the
thermometer, is sufficiently diminished.
This bath, combining as it does the cooling effects of cool water and of
evaporation, is the most powerful refrigerant that can be employed; yet
it is perfectly safe when judiciously used, being only applied in cases
of extreme urgency on account of the high temperature.
Some practice opening the ordinary pack at intervals, and sprinkling
cool water upon the patient, thus obtaining, in some degree, the
prolonged cooling effect. The pack must be studied well to enable one to
apply it with skill, and certainty of success.