GREATEST LIFE AND MONEY SAVER

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3308, 31 March 1926, Page 9

GREATEST LIFE AND MONEY SAVER

Modern Hospital Methods Discussed FINE ADDRESS BY DR. M. T. MacEACHERN Modern hospital methods ana organisation was th e subject or a lantern lecture in the Municipal Hall last evening by Dr. Malcolm T. MacEachern, of Chicago, formerly director of the Vancouver General Hospital and now in charge of the hospital betterment movement In the United States and Canada. Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., who presided, introduced the speaker, who was touring the Dominion on behalf of tno the British Medical Association ana with the full approval of the Government. The doctor came to New Zealand with an international reputation. In his opening remarks, Dr. MacEachern referred to the continued hospitality he had met with since his arrival in the country. It had been a great pleasure to him, he said, to visit the Palmerston North Hospital that afternoon and to see what had been done |there. The chairman of the Hospital Board, Sir James Wilson, had done a great service to tne community; in fact, he did not think he had met a man who had a greater grasp of hospital matters (applause;. Knowledge and Health. It was due to the organised effort of the medical, nursing and klnarea professions that people were able to live and be happy and comfortable, he continued. Typhoid, smallpox, cholera, sleeping-sickness and similar diseases would, if allowed to run wild, wipe out a great part of the population, yet these scourges were scarcely heard of In civilised countries to-oay. Indeed, difficulty had been experienced in finding sufficient cases ror the instruction of students. New Zealand’s infant mortality was now--50, 60 or 70 per 1000 births—the lowest In the world—yet 1 comparatively few years ago the Empire had Ip&t on the average from 300 to 400 per 1000. As another Instance of the wonderrul strides that had been made, the lecturer mentioned Ithat the expectation of life to-day was 57 years, yet only a few years ago it was 40 years; ana the average span was becoming longer. All thes e things were due to organised effort, and the hospitals were the great factor in the work. The facits he had just placed before his audience should, he thought, encourage them to support their institution and bring it up-to-date.

Palmerston’s Pine Hospital. Palmerston North had a fln e hospital well organised, well equipped ana appointed, and everybody there seemed comfortable. The building was immaculately clean and had every facility for giving fine service, yet when he had questioned a local resident to find out where the institution was, the man said he did not know: all he knew about it was that he paid taxes to keep it going, and that nospltals generally were only for spending money! “Hospitals are the greatest institutions and money-savers we have,” Dr. Macßchern continued. Looking at it from a purely commercial viewpoint, every human life was assessed as Doing worth £IOOO to the community. No fewer than 2600 patients passed through the Palmerston North Hospital each year; and assuming that in ton per cent, of these cases lives were saved, there was an annual saving of £260,000, yet the cost of running tnc institution was only £22,000 a year. Hospitals had to be like big railways —well organised: that was the secret of carrying on such institutions. Necessity for Organisation, Boards that to-day were asking their superintendents to do surgical work, as well as run the hospital, were asking too much; the superintendent’s duty was ito administer, there was a medical staff to attend to tne Other work. One of the first principles of successful administration was organisation and next, co-ordination or co-operajtion. If the hospital boards pulled together with tnc superintendents and staffs, then tne hospitals would bo well run. Tnero was no room to-day for individualism, but more communism was needed. In continuing, the speaker said no was pleased the local hospital had an honorary staff of surgeons, for that ensured that the service of the Best brains of the community.

Modern Improvements, Dr. MacEachern then illustrated »y means of a series of fine lantern slides the most up-to-date and important features of hospital development. He urged that every institution should have a casualty ward just inside the entrance, and (that a small operating room should be available. If this were not done, time was lost and perhaps valuable lives were sacrificed. Among the slides shown were some which demonstrated the remarkaoie economy which was practised In regard to linen, bedding and food supplies. In most of the institutions which he had visilted in this country, economy was being exercised, saia the doctor. He then proceeded to outline the methods of keeping personal records of every patient as was done in the great institutions. These records were invaluable, he added, in cases of recurring illness; they were, of course, treafted as strictly conm dential, and outside any hospital mat did not keep them, he would like to hang a red flag as a warning to people tc go somewhere else (laughter), if people would insist that their hospitals were up to a certain standard, many mishaps would never occur. The speaker urged the necessity for hospital boards to keep a record ol tlic physical results achieved, as wen as of the financial affairs. If an institution did not show that it haa a "■•edit balance in results achieved