Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1940 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1940
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1940 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/28 (page 11)
    ERPRISE t>.n ev?ry4ay scene in the Papworth workshops—Sir Pend rill exchanging bad.nage with one of the men. None ever knew jo whom he would speak or what he would say : but his presence, his wit and his enthusiasm meant much to everyone. (Courtesy of “ LIFE ”) conclusions drawn from the histological characteristics of a lesion with regard to stage and age, without considering the case-history, are most fallacious, and that the identification of a Ghon-focus with a primary focus, and a caseous focus with a re-infection focus of more recent genesis, is no longer tenable. BACTERIOLOGY The classification of the sputum record cards into four main groups, as proposed in our last Annual Report, is now practically complete. A division of the patients’ material into the two main classes of the sputum converted groupand thesputum persistent group, which appears to be an essential condition for the study of the ultimate results of treatment, requires most careful analysis of the sputum tests; each case must be considered as presenting a problem of its own. The sputum findings must be consistent with the radio¬ logical and clinical findings. A case is classified on admission but has to be re-classifted if any change in condition is observed. Applying a method of selected, intensive sputum analysis naturally leads to an increase in positive sputum findings in cases which were already regarded as closed tuberculosis. The discovery of a few bacilli by cultural methods in a twenty-four hour specimen, although of great significance to the physician, should not be overrated from the sociological point of view as a patient who has practically no sputum may safely be regarded as practically non-infective, even if bacilli are discoverable by culture. CLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY The experiments on the physiological effects of artificial pneumothorax are being continued with the aim of evolving a modifi¬ cation of our present artificial pneumothorax treatment which might be more “ physio¬ logical ” and more effective. Artificial pneumothorax treatment has passed through various phases; from the recommendation of Hypertension to the more physiological method of Hypotension. The theoretical possibility of an Isotension pneumothorax having been established, the practical impli¬ cations are being examined INDUSTRIAL PHYSIOLOGY The method of grading patients, starting work, and the regular control of workers has been continued, according to the scheme described in previous Reports. The “ physio- gram ” has proved a reliable guide in this method. A survey is in process of being completed to showthe particular implications of the scheme. Clinical Sociological Research The system of statistical classification on which we reported in Vol. 2 p. 113 of the Research Bulletin has been further tested— the International Union against Tuberculosis having shown interest in a more general adoption of this scheme, which makes wide use of modern technical methods of calcu¬ lating and tabulating the results of the data recorded on an enquiry card. It is to be hoped that other institutions in this country might be prepared to join in a common effort to standardise the tuberculosis statistics, so that a universally distributed enquiry card might become the basis for a wider epidemiological analysis, to follow up the variations in the epidemiological character of the disease year by year from the various clinical-sociological aspects. We have set ourselves the task of tracing the history of each contact case admitted to the Institution back to the date of exposure, collecting all available radiological evidence. We are aiming at publishing each year in the Research Bulletin, a continuation of the series commenced in the 1937 issue. From this collection of data, an Atlas of the Evol ution of the Adult-Type Lesion in Contacts is to be [II]