Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
History
Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
Medicine, Military; Military hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Veterans -- Medical care -- United States
Regarding occupational therapy. We all know that this is a very
important method of treatment. It should always, as Colonel Evans said,
be directed treatment and should not be given in a hap-hazard way. All
of our occupational therapy treatment has been given a definite
prescription. For eighteen months we have had a bright young medical
officer interested in this subject, whom we have made reconstruction
officer and who observes the effect of treatment and changes the
prescriptions of the other physicians when he finds the treatment given
does not have the desired effect.
With reference to reconstruction aides, every week our reconstruction
officer gives them a talk on some phase either of occupational therapy
or physio-therapy or of mental disorders. We cover any subject in which
the neuro-psychiatrist should be interested. This officer has devised a
system of observation which the aides are supposed to make on patients
and which they do make on each patient who takes occupational therapy
and which is looked over by our reconstruction officer and the officer
in special charge of the case. We are getting up data and statistics
which we think will be of interest to the general profession when it is
finally published,
DR. TREADWAY: I think that the Public Health Service has had a very grave
and serious problem affecting the N.P. Veterans of the World War. We
have included in that term, besides the mental and nervous cases, the
neuro-surgical cases as well.
There are a number of problems which still confront us, and one of these
is the question of personnel. I am sorry that Dr. Kolb did not say
something about the training school he had started in connection with
his hospital. We sent some young officers over to learn technique and
methods of handling the psycho-neurotics. We have also sent some
officers to the Public Health Service clinic at the Psychopathic
Institute in Boston and we hope that some of our other hospitals will
start a similar school. The question of personnel is an exceedingly
grave one. A great many young men want to become surgeons.
They are not interested in mental or nervous cases. They want to go into
general medicine. Last year we sent two officers to the Southern
University and to the Northern and Western universities to meet the
graduating classes and the internes, and from that we have been
recruiting some younger men who are manifesting considerable interest.
We hope to get additional personnel by interesting the young graduate.
Another problem is the question of creating, in connection with General
hospitals, wards where patients of this sort may receive at the
beginning of their treatment, their preliminary examination, where they
may be evacuated home with compensation or without compensation, or
evacuated to a prolonged treatment hospital for further care.
It has sometimes been difficult to get enough men, trained personnel, to
man these wards.
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