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
In your T.B. sections, have your sub-divisions; have your places to
which you are going to send your ambulatory cases, your far advanced,
etc. Keep them far apart. Use the class system, but be sure that your
personnel is sufficient, so as not to get away from the personal touch.
Perhaps a little outline of the organization of at least two of the
hospitals with which I am familiar will illustrate my point.
The first essential thing when a patient enters a hospital is a complete
examination. Do not let that examination be routine because it is a T.B.
patient. Do not be satisfied with punching the man in the chest and
sticking your ear to his heart. Have somebody who understands
neurological conditions, test his nerve reactions; have someone to test
his mental reactions, as well as the surgical and general medical. Have
your examination ward in which this can be done.
Next is your general medical and, possibly, observation ward. I don’t
care how you try to keep observation cases out of T.B. hospitals,—they
are going to get in. If a patient, after being in a month, is found to
be a T.B. case, he is apt to say, “I caught it here”. Put him where you
can answer, “You did not get it here. You have not been in sufficiently
close contact with the disease to catch it.”
Have your surgical ward; and then your strictly T.B. section.
Have first your infirmary or hospital.
The T.B. man needs special treatment, nursing care and dietetic care.
One of the chief things to give to a T.B. infirmary is good dietetic
care;—place the food before your patient in an appetizing manner; too
much will disgust him.
Then have your ambulant section and sub-divide it into the section in
which there is clinical activity of the disease, and into the section in
which the clinical condition of the disease is quiescent. By doing this
you can give your people graduated exercises, whatever diets they may
need, periods of rest, and occupational therapy; and you can do it in an
organized, scientific way, and get away from the everlasting complaint,
“You let the fellow in the next bed do it; why won’t you let me do it?”
You have got to study the psychology of your patient. It may be a little
out of the line of segregation of cases. We have heard the talk here of
cases, of hospital management, and all that; but be sure in dealing with
the ex-service man, or any other case, that you do not treat him merely
as a case; that you do not segregate the medical officer in charge. I
find there in the South that one of my life-savers is the fact that my
office door is open to any patient. When I first got to be understood
there was a line-up. I gave an hour every day. Now, since the patients
know that everyone can come to me, I have possibly three or four in a
day. And I don’t do it either by reversing the decisions of my ward
surgeon and my executive officer; I back them up.
* * * * *
DR. KLAUTZ (N.H.D.V.S., Johnson City, Tenn.):
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account