HOSPITAL 



2845 



HOSPITAL 



tains in private possession in England, she 

 executed ideal heads of Daphne and Puck. 

 The Sleeping Faun, Waking Faun, Zenobia in 

 Chains and Beatrice Cenci are considered 

 among the best of her works. 



HOS'PITAL, a word derived from the Latin 

 hospes, meaning guest, was originally applied 

 to a place of shelter for the sick and wounded, 

 the aged, the destitute, the infirm, and young 

 and helpless children. In the modern sense 

 a hospital is a building or group of buildings 

 in which those who are sick or injured receive 

 nursing and medical or surgical treatment; 

 asylum, almshouse, orphanage, home, etc., are 

 applied to various institutions formerly in- 

 cluded under the general term hospital. Insti- 

 tutions for the care of those diseased in mind 

 are generally known as hospitals for the in- 

 sane (see INSANITY). 



There are two main classes of hospitals, 

 general and special, the former admitting cases 

 of all kinds, the latter accepting patients suf- 

 fering from a special disease or group of dis- 

 eases. Some hospitals are for the reception of 

 victims of contagious disease, and there are 

 special hospitals for children, for men and for 

 women. 



Plan of Construction. Nearly all hospitals 

 are modifications of two types of construc- 

 tion the pavilion scheme and the multiple- 

 story plan. The Virchow Hospital of Berlin, 

 with fifty-three separate one-story buildings, 

 covering an area of ninety-six acres, is an ex- 

 treme example of the first type; the hospital 

 of many stories on a small ground area, often 

 seen in large cities of the United States and 

 Canada where sites are very expensive and 

 frequently difficult to obtain, is typical of the 

 second class. 



The average modern hospital is built on 

 the following plan: There is first an adminis- 

 tration building, containing offices, parlors for 

 visitors, a chapel, an examination room, a 

 pharmacy, and other departments which serve 

 the institution as a whole. The patients are 

 cared for in wings or pavilions, one, two or 

 three stories high; these contain the public 

 wards with many beds, and the private wards 

 and rooms, which are for the accommodation 

 of but one patient in each section. Diet kitch- 

 ens, dining rooms, baths, lavatories, nurses' 

 rooms and other service apartments adjoin 

 the wards. The surgical section, comprising 

 the operating, anesthetic, sterilizing and re- 

 covery rooms, is often found on the top floor. 

 There are, in addition, nurses' living quarters, 



recreation rooms, a laundry, power house, sun 

 parlors, etc. These are sometimes housed in 

 wings of the central building, and sometimes 

 in separate structures. In the best modern 

 hospitals the equipment, furnishings and pro- 

 visions for heating and ventilation represent 

 the highest degree of scientific achievement. 



Organization. The governing body of a hos- 

 pital is known as the board of managers; its 

 members are usually appointed by the gov- 

 ernor if the institution is under state control, 

 while the board of a private hospital is gener- 

 ally elected by the hospital-association mem- 

 bership. The chief executive officer is the 

 superintendent. Other house officers are a 

 superintendent of the nursing department, a 

 matron, or housekeeper, a steward, who has 

 charge of all food supplies, an engineer and 

 a pharmacist. Men servants, called orderlies, 

 are attached to the nursing department. 

 Nurses are subject to the orders of internes, 

 or graduates of medical schools who reside in 

 the hospital and are in constant attendance 

 for the experience they may gain, receiving 

 no remuneration except their board and lodg- 

 ing. The period of interneship varies from 

 one to three years. The internes are under 

 the direction of attending physicians engaged 

 in general practice in the city, who visit the 

 hospital at specified periods, and have over- 

 sight of the treatment given the patients. In 

 the best-organized hospitals each department 

 is under the supervision of a competent visit- 

 ing staff, and each is provided with a resident 

 physician, internes and assistants, 



Training of the Nurse. One of the most 

 important functions of the modern hospital is 

 the training of women for professional nursing. 

 The courses leading to the diploma granted a 

 graduate nurse vary in length from two to 

 three years. Some hospitals require an ad- 

 mission fee, and, instead of giving the pupil 

 nurses an allowance, furnish them with uni- 

 forms and books, while others forego the en- 

 trance fee and pay their students an allow- 

 ance of from six to ten dollars a month for 

 necessary expenses. 



The prospective nurse first enters upon a 

 period of probationship, varying from three to 

 six months. In the smaller hospitals she goes 

 first to the wards, where she begins her work 

 by running errands, amusing child patients and 

 assisting the older nurses as they make de- 

 mands upon her. Then gradually she learns 

 the general duties of caring for the sick. In 

 the larger institutions the probationer is taught 



