432 MEDICAL SECTION 



RELATION OF THE HOSPITAL TO THE 

 HYGIENE OF PREGNANCY. 



BY JAMES LINCOLN HUNTINGTON, M.D., 



Boston, Mass. 



IT is the object of this paper to show the develop- 

 ment of a pregnancy clinic, which is an active part of 

 a lying-in hospital, in a larger medical school centre ; 

 to show exactly what this institution is and what 

 results have been obtained, and to show the cost 

 of such an institution and its running expenses. 



I wish also to show by what means even better 

 results might be obtained in a more nearly ideal 

 pregnancy clinic in connection with a modern lying- 

 in hospital. 



To show the various steps in the development of 

 the work done at the Boston Lying-in Hospital in 

 connection with the hygiene of pregnancy it is 

 necessary to go back to the starting of the out- 

 patient service in 1881. Through the firm estab- 

 lishment of this department and the careful 

 supervision of the work, not only of the students, 

 but also the supervision of the work done by the 

 house officers by specialists in obstetrics, a splendid 

 record has been established, and now some two 

 thousand women are cared for in their homes every 

 year by this department of the hospital. 



The Instructive District Nursing Association 

 began making ante-natal visits on some of the 

 women in the out-patient department of the Boston 

 Lying-in Hospital in 1901. The work gradually 

 spread until in 1906 all these women were paid 

 at least one visit by a nurse from this association 

 some time between the date of application to the 

 hospital and the confinement of the patient. Last 

 year this association averaged about three ante-natal 



