The children's hospital, the medical school and the public / by L. Emmett Holt.
- Luther Emmett Holt
- Date:
- [1913]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The children's hospital, the medical school and the public / by L. Emmett Holt. 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.
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![[00] of two great difficulties which attend the hospital care of these patients: the problem of nutrition and that of ward infections. These necessitate smaller wards, ampler provision for the separation of patients in doubtful diseases, and in diseases of feebler communicability than our ordinary contagious diseases. Not only must there be sufficient provision for fresh air and proper ventilation for acute infectious cases and pneumonia, we must have also wards in which a temperature much higher than the usual room temperature can be maintained for the congenitally feeble, the marantic and the premature infant. The nutrition of feeble infants is always difficult even in a state of comparative health; but with acute illness added, the difficulties are greatly increased. The feeding especially must be exact and requires special equipment and specially trained service. There are many other particulars in which the oper- ation of an institution caring for the very young must be carried on in an entirely different manner from methods pursued in an adult hospital. It has been my observation and experience that boards of managers, hospital superintendents, and head nurses can rarely be made to appreciate them. Forming only one department of a large institution, and that usually a small part, it is seldom the case that anything like adequate attention from an administrative point of view is given to the wards for infants and young children. In the past our hospitals have represented our philanthropy. The modern hospital, while not losing its philanthropic character, is to be classed among the institutions of higher education. The academic hospital in particular is to be so regarded. Properly equipped and administered, it is alto- gether the most productive of all the college laboratories. Proper teaching does not interfere with the best care of the sick, but rather should contribute to it. This is particu- larly true of little children, who have no prejudices to over- come, no modesty to be shocked, and no sensibilities to be hurt; but since they cannot describe their pains or express in words their wants, they require the closest kind of individ- ual study and observation. No better opportunity can be afforded for the training of the medical student than to place him in a hospital ward with sick infants and teach him how](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22447957_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
