“The subject is so broad that we can only consider certain phases of it within the time allotted for this paper. We all recognize that there are certain fundamental essentials which must of necessity be provided in every hospital regardless of the number of patients cared for. This necessarily means that overhead expenses of an institution hospitalizing small numbers of patients will be out of proportion to those of a hospital caring for a large number.
The general business management, the purchasing of supplies and equipment, the conservation and dispensing of the same, the elimination of waste, etc,. will be considered only casually for the purpose of emphasizing the importance of adhering as closely to strict business methods as is done in the case of every successful business man, whether he be a hospital executive, a merchant, or a man in any other line of business.
In this connection, it might be said that a mistake which is made in many government institutions, and one which is not made by the most successful business men, is to attempt to start on economy at a place where one can least afford to economize, that is in the pay and allowances of the personnel immediately responsible for the management of the institution, the responsible heads of departments, etc. In other words, we are not always willing to pay for brains, a price commensurate with the business responsibility involved. Again when we have been fortunate enough to secure the right man the right place, we do not always recognize his value by paying him a price commensurate with the value of his work. Furthermore, when we have made the mistake of getting the wrong man, who in reality is receiving a greater compensation than his services are worth, and one who, in reality, is a very expensive employee, we oftentimes make the mistake of not recognizing inefficiency and promptly correcting it,
In case there is any decided handicap along the lines of inefficiency in the responsible personnel in the administrative, utility, service or professional departments, it should be promptly corrected, as it is to those in such petitions to whom we constantly look to be on the alert in recognizing the short comings of all subordinate personnel.
In visiting our own or other hospitals we promptly recognize the presence or absence of evidence of the proper vigilance or efficiency in every department. In case of a tour of inspection of one of these institutions there should be found spurting steam valves, leaking water faucets, extravagant use of electric lights, overheated buildings, garbage and swill tanks running over with waste food supplies, evidence of lack of organization and co-operation on the part of the personnel, professional or otherwise, we should immediately recognize the fact that there was inefficiency existing in the personnel of such an institution, and as a result of this, a decided lack of economical and efficient administration. Finding such conditions in other departments, we should expect to find unsatisfactory conditions when the patient population was reached. We should expect to find histories poorly written or not written at all, patients waiting over-time for special examinations or special treatments, lack of accurate laboratory and X-ray records, etc. The matter of such inefficiency and consequent poor administration on the part of the personnel in any institution would naturally lead to great dissatisfaction on the part of the patients of such an institution and to the greatest lack of economy on the part of the administration, of the hospital.
In connection with the professional department proper, again the attainment of the most satisfactory results from the standpoint, both of economy and efficiency, is dependent upon the capacity and co-operation of the responsible personnel. There has been much discussion in regard to the number of professional personnel doctors, nurses, attendants, etc., and on this subject there has been apparently wide differences of opinion. However, these differences have been based upon differences of viewpoints of what the actual conditions to be met were.
A definite agreement has been reached in regard to the required personnel, nurses, doctors, attendants, social service, workers, etc., to each two hundred patients in a hospital caring for all acute patients, whether they be major surgical, acute active neuro-psychiatric, active tuberculosis, or other type of acute condition requiring active, constructive treatment.
As a matter of fact, however, we all know that in none of our Veterans’ Hospitals, especially the larger ones of 500 to 1000 or more beds, are all the patients or even a majority of them represented by this type of patients, on the contrary we have a large group of convalescent patients who require professionally very much less attention from the standpoint of active constructive treatment, dietetic attention, etc., and hence require vastly less personnel, and the expense of their maintenance in the hospital will be very greatly reduced from that of the acute type. Again, we have another group which represents the semi-domiciliary type, many of whom require very slight constructive treatment, and yet they belong to a type of patients who are capable of being finally rehabilitated and restored to an earning status in life. This group requires still less care than the former, and naturally less personnel and proportionately less per capita cost to the institution caring for them. Lastly, we pass to a purely domiciliary group who are to a large measure permanently disabled and are, therefore, many of them, to be permanent charges oh the Veterans’ Hospitals. The great majority of the latter group will require little or no special treatment, but will require only general care and maintenance. In this group we are dealing with a type who will represent the minimum per capita cost.
As time goes on we shall realize, especially in our larger hospitals, that the above condition will exist to a larger and larger measure and the necessity of a very close checking system and a very careful classification of the patients along the lines indicated above will be a matter of the very highest importance.
This does not mean that as long as special treatment along any line is needed that each patient will not have such expert examinations, care and treatment as his condition calls for. Quite the contrary, the most careful and competent examinations should be directed by hospital units composed of the most competent staff of men including surgical; medical; ear, nose and throat; X-ray., etc., at such intervals as the condition of the patient calls for. It will be by this system alone that we are to keep a check on the progress toward recovery of each individual patient and prevent an undue accumulation of a domiciliary group. By proper cooperation of such a group with the rehabilitation section, many men may be selected as suitable persons for rehabilitation in the vocational schools. The importance of this we all realize as there is a certain percentage of patients who will be quite content with their state as long as they are receiving complete maintenance and a liberal compensation of from $80 to $150 per month and no cares and no responsibilities to assume in life. That is we should be constantly on the alert to prevent making permanent residents or charges of any man who can be restored to an earning status in life.