454 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY. OF SCIENCE 



which all hospital matters and difficult cases are thrashed 

 out among them in this conference room. These confer- 

 ences are informal but from their frequency and from the 

 apparent interest of those taking part, they are obviously 

 of much benefit. 



The younger men in this way daily get into conference 

 about their difficult cases with the older men; the older 

 men with each other about their difficult cases or cases of 

 interest, and though informal, one can hardly conceive 

 of a more advantageous arrangement. From these in- 

 formal conferences there are daily bedside consultations 

 and frequent surgical clinics attended by interested phy- 

 sicians. In my opinion such an arrangement is quite as 

 beneficial as the formal review of cases in a called staff 

 meeting. 



With references to the compiling of case records, the 

 hospital authorities have always insisted upon the great- 

 est accuracy and completeness from the standpoint of 

 the case record so far as the nursing personnel was con- 

 cerned. It has also been an important point with the 

 hospital to see that the physician place on the record his 

 own orders for his patient. But in view of the fact that 

 the patient was presumed to belong to the physician, the 

 hospital has taken the attitude that the historj^, past and 

 present, and the details of the physical findings of the 

 case, were matters of professional concern and confidence 

 between the patient and his physician. They have not 

 insisted on this record being made, except as it was neces- 

 sary for the hospital to have on file the summary of such 

 information in the form of a tentative diagnosis, which 

 is necessary for the proper classification of patients 

 entering the hospital, and for the protection of the hospi- 

 tal against the admittance of infectious diseases. Simi- 

 larly, records in regard to the operations have been re- 

 quired, where such records are necessary for the proper 

 conduct of the operating room and for the classification 

 of operations. The hospital has felt it advisable to fur- 

 nish as complete mechanical arrangement as is neces- 

 sary, but have only insisted on such records as are of 

 value to the hospital personnel in their own w^ork. Be- 

 sides the foregoing records, upon the discharge of the 



