436 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



RELATION OF THE HOSPITAL TO THE 

 COMMUNITY 



Waltek G. Bain, M, D., St. John's Hospital, Springfield 



The relation of the hospital to the community- may 

 never have seemed a matter of much importance to you. 

 Sooner or later, however, you, or some one near and dear 

 to you, will, in all probability become so ill that your in- 

 terest in the hospital question will be paramount for the 

 time being to all other interests. For the reason that 

 modern scientific practice of medicine demands hospitali- 

 zation of the sick, the question of the relation of the hos- 

 pital to the community is a matter which should concern 

 every layman and every physician. Hospitals very fre- 

 quently are supported by contribution from the public. 

 This phase of the question should make it a matter of 

 added interest to you. It is in the belief that both your- 

 selves as possible future patients, and the hospital as a 

 present community problem, will be benefited by the 

 views of one who has made some study of these relations 

 that I undertake to discuss the present hospital situation. 



That the hospital has become a matter of interest to 

 the medical profession and to the hospital world at this 

 time has been brought about by the veiy active campaign 

 of the American College of Surgeons to make the hospi- 

 tal a public issue. In this campaign they have spent 

 much money and have carried on an extensive propa- 

 ganda to impose their views on the public. 



The recent legislation, and the establishing of nurses' 

 examining boards, and state and government inspection 

 of hospitals, with a view to the registration of nurses 

 and the use of hospitals for the care of government pa- 

 tients, have, without a doubt, had a tendency to call the 

 attention of hospital boards, governing bodies and man- 

 agers to certain fundamental deficiencies and neglects. 

 The College of Surgeons unfortunately have adopted a 

 standardization program which will tend eventually to 

 undermine the proper relation of the hospital to the com- 

 munity and thereby weaken the hospital movement by 



