ABOUT FOREIGN HOSPITALS

Evening Post, Volume 137, Issue CXI, 10 June 1926, Page 11

ABOUT FOREIGN HOSPITALS

LADY DOCTOR'S TOUR,

Dr. Sylvia Chapman, at a recent meeting in the Red Cross Rooms^poke very interestingly about some of the foreign hospitals she has visited. The Turnier Clinic in Paris is a large hospital for women under direction of the University. The atmosphere of the French hospital, stated the speaker, is considerably different from that of English ones. There is less air space, and little is done to make the wards attractive. Many vessels, trays, etc., are kept in the ward, which is not the case in English establishments. The staff is well trained and efficient, but has not the disciplined precision of the latter. The operating theatre is up to date, and the' patient is only approached by the surgeon and one assistant. An ante-natal clinic is held once a week, when about 50 expectant mothers come for treatment. The baby clinics are held on two other mornings, and there is a regulated interchange of bottles with properly prepared food ready for the children whose mothers are quite unable to nurse them. There is also an organisation in connection with the hospital for assisting poor or unfortunate mothers. There is_ special research carried on according to the Pasteur methods, when tuberculosis, malaria, etc., come under consideration. At Vienna there are many interesting hospitals, both belonging to the University and independent of it. lhe buildings are large and handsome and enclosed iv a park. Two large women's clinics provide treatment and teaching in the subjects of gynaechology and obstetrics. An interesting feature is the department of hydrotherapy, where patients are treated by means of baths and douches. The baths, are prepared from a special kind of mud, said to have radio-active properties, and good results are obtained in, cases of chronic inflammation. The University children's clinic, under the direction' of Professor yon Pirguet, is a beautiful hospital, lined throughout with blue and white' tiles, and equipped with every modern convenience. The tuberculosis children are kept on the roof, which is flat and . very extensive. They sleep In- open shelters, in beds designed so that they can be moved easily, and are classified according to the severity of their condition, those very ill with active disease being confined to bed. ' Those who are able, to be up are subjected to a careful regime. Clothing is of the lightest—in summer time only one garment, wilth low neck and no sleeves, sand-Is and no stockings being worn on the feet, the maximum exposure to air and sunshine being thus allowed The children rise at 7 a.m. and each has a shower bath, great attention being paid to the care of the teeth, cleanliness, and good habits in general. Breakfast is followed by a period of drill, supervised by nurses specially trained in physical culture. A school is provided in the hospital, the teachers being certificated State teachers, but the hours greatly reduced, and the amount of work done by each child under" the control of the medical officers. Dinners is followed by a period of rest, and the afternoon occupied with games and other activities in the open. air. A ward is given up to the study of diabetes in childhood. The infectious diseases ward is built entirely of glass, excepting for the roof. It is divided up into closed cubicles, and the whole is under the control* of one nurse, who, wherever she may be, can keep the .whole ward under supervision. The nurse changes her gown and disinfects her hands as she goes from one cubicle to the next. All infectious fevers are nursed together, and it is said that with proper attention to disinfection there is no danger of carrying disease from one patient to the next. In Norway good work is being done in the prevention of tuberculosis by the Norwegian -Women's Public Health Association, a society founded about thirty years ago to increase the efficiency of the medical services in the outbreak of war, or of epidemics. An open-air school hospital for children, near Christiania, provides accommodation for twenty boys and thirty girls. These children are not suffering from active tuberculosis, but are sent to the school if ailin,\ and suspected of being in a pre-tuberculosis condition. They remain for periods varying from six months to two years, according to medical advice. The "School contains airy dining and school rooms, for use in bad weather. In fine summer weather Work and meals are taken outside as far as possible. . The . utmost attention is paid to cleanliness, regular habits, and good feeding, and the effect on the children (many of whom* come from poor and unhygienic surroundings) is very marked in a_, short time. Besides this home and others like it, the association maintains about thirty hospitals throughout the country devoted to the care of tuberculosis and pre-tuberculosis -patients. In' the towns it also provides milk kitchens for children, and in the summer holds camps in the country, to which town children can be sent during the summer holidays. The association, formed thirty years ago by Frti Quani, a Christiania lady who still retains the presidency, now has over four hundred branches throughout the country, with a membership of sixty-five thousand, _ and • does useful work in providing hospital equipments, lecturing on first aid, and training nurses to work in hospitals.