On the reform of the out-patient department of our hospitals / by Edward H. Sieveking.

  • Sieveking, Edward H. (Edward Henry), 1816-1904.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the reform of the out-patient department of our hospitals / by Edward H. Sieveking. 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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    in their condition noted and reported to the Physician or Sur- geon ; and the student would unavoidably, from being required to use his own eyes, nose, ears, hands, and brains, acquire an insight into the phases of disease, the influence of domestic ar- rangements, the real humanity of the medical art, if I may so say, the general aspect of morbid phenomena, which he never gains at present during his school-life. Speaking from personal recollection, I should say that few incidents in my professional career have left a more vivid impression upon me than those connected with the first patients I visited in their own homes. In the hospital, the student acquires a habit of looking upon the patient simply as an object of observation, a nosological curi- osity : let him see the patient in his own home, and a thousand appeals are made to his heart and understanding, of which he would otherwise have remained unconscious. But it will be objected, You extend the operations of the hos- pital, and increase the work and expenditure; your system is good in the abstract, but our means will not suffice to realise it; the governors and subscribers have sufficient difficulty in pro- viding for the maintenance of the present necessities of the in- stitution, and you wish to add to their burdens. I do not think that this argument will prove as weighty as some may regard it. On the contrary, if we bear in mind the constant complaints that are now made with regard to the abuses of the out-patient department, the well-authenticated statements as to the num- bers of well-to-do persons who abuse charity by availing them- selves of its advantages improperly, the waste of medicines, the uncertainty of their being taken, the positive frauds which are on record, we shall be prepared to admit that the system pro- posed will enable us to weed out the improper applicants; that there will be a greater probability of detection, and greater cer- tainty of control. You are aware that complaints as to the irre- gularities in our out-patient department referable to such abuses are among the standing difficulties with which our Medical Committee and Weekly Board of Governors have to deal. While a full and thorough realisation of my scheme would en- able us to confer more full and real benefits upon our deserving sick poor, we should, on the one hand, acquire more certain means of sending the real pauper to the workhouse infirmary,