The scientific development of the Presbyterian Hospital / by W. Gilman Thompson.

  • William Gilman Thompson
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The scientific development of the Presbyterian Hospital / by W. Gilman Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    2/8
    within a hospital broadens and uplifts its accomplishments in all directions. There is nothing as quickening to the thorough study of a patient’s ills as the stimulus of teaching students about them, and the keen interest of pursuit of some scientific in- vestigation for which every facility is at hand. The whole history of medicine, from the School of Palermo to the Institute of Rockefeller supports the simple postulate that the more teaching and research, the more benefit to the patients. Elementary as this proposi- tion is, what is the hospital situation in New York today? There exist 63 hospitals for general medicine and surgery in Greater New York, exclusive of hospitals for children and specialties, constituting a heterogeneous col- lection, founded on 15 different principles—some for lan- guage, some for race, some for religion, some for sex, some for age, etc., (I will not stop to enumerate others), yet none, except the projected Rockefeller, exist for the true science of medicine—all of them without co-operation, planted here or there usually without expert knowledge of the needs of the locality, and attempting to treat all kinds of cases without regard to whether they possess adequate equip- ment,—and finally, not one of them has yet sought alliance with the medical department of any university. Seventy years ago and more, the three medical schools then existing in New York were all private schools, estab- lished by a few physicians, who desired to lecture to stu- dents. Laboratories were not thought of and equipment of all kinds was most elementary. But soon better equipment became a necessity, and one by one each school has allied itself to a University, with the result that today each school possesses an equipment for diagnosis and medical research, which no hospital in the city approaches. What an opporftunity lies open to the Presbyterian Hospital today to become a really great institution, to take itself out of the old ruts, to separate from the other 62 hospitals of ordinary class, and become a true medical cen- tre, making its influence felt throughout the medical world. Instead of being known for the softness of the feathers of its endowed beds, let it be sought out because the best means of diagnosis are to be obtained in its wards, and laboratories,
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image