World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Women
The Army medical authorities were quick to realise how wisely their
trust had been bestowed, and, in February, 1915, Dr. Garrett Anderson
and Dr. Flora Murray were asked to take up work on a larger scale, and
to undertake the entire management of the Endell Street Hospital, a
large military hospital in London.
During its two years of work for the sick and wounded, no military
hospital has succeeded in establishing a finer record. To see it is a
wonderful experience. The hospital consists of 17 wards, with 578 beds,
and is entirely staffed by women--surgeons, doctors, pathologists,
oculists, dental surgeons, anæsthetists, dispensers, nurses, orderlies.
The only men are the patients.
Sir Alfred Keogh, the Director-General of the Army Medical Service,
said, when speaking of it: “The hospital is in every respect a military
hospital, differing in no way from any other military hospital in the
country. Major operations comparable to those in any other institution
are performed, and there is no limitation whatever, either medical or
surgical, to the functions which the staff of the hospital undertakes.
Particularly excellent work has been done in the pathological
departments. A special feature of the surgery of the hospital has been
the adoption there of a new method of treating wounds, introduced by
Professor Rutherford Morison.”
This treatment consists of the use of a bismuth-iodoform-paraffin paste
for cases of septic wounds and fractures. Writing of the treatment, Dr.
Garrett Anderson says: “In every case fœtor has disappeared, sepsis has
subsided, and union of bone has taken place with astonishing rapidity,
while the condition of the patient has benefited greatly from being
spared painful daily dressings.”
Set in the very centre of London, and surrounded by tall buildings,
with the buzz and whirl of London traffic all about it, a visitor would
be inclined at first to think the hospital a sad and gloomy place. But
that impression soon passes, for in the wards, bright with colour,
in the recreation room and library, but most of all in the faces of
the soldier patients, happiness and contentment are the prevailing
elements. An atmosphere is as hard to describe as it is easy to
recognise, but the atmosphere of the Women’s Hospital breathes rest and
quiet, and the mutual confidence between patients and doctors which is
so invaluable an asset in successful treatment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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