Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1907-07-24
WHAT BISHOP SAYS OF
HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT

E. F. Bishop, trustee of the Queen
Hospital has issued statement in
which he presents the case of the
Trustees against DR.. Hodgins. Mr..
Bishop indicates that he speaks for
himself alone, although previous TO
the publication of the document other
trustees and officials said that he
would outline the case for the Board
Some two hundred words of the state
ment is occupied with an explanation
of why the statement will be long and
asserting the clear conscience of the
author. 1t then gets down to business
as follows:
The Queens Hospital is an institu-
ton employing considerable staff,
consisting of resident physician; an
inferno assistant to the RESIDENT SUI
perintendent staff of nurses, attend
ants and the domestic force incidental
to the care and nourishment of from
sixty to seventy-five inmates; also the
people necessary to maintenance OF
grounds and buildings.
The nature of its work requires sys-
tenn and discipline, and upon this sys-
tenn and discipline depend the success
of its work. And its work is to heal
the sick according to the most APP
proved and latter day methods. Ger
tainly, its Importance is paramount to
almost any other pursuit by organiza-
ton. Without system, without rigid
discipline, no hospital would be a safe
place as a resort or refuge for the sick.
NJ, hi tot, ,lne,
are made and must be observed One
of the most important is the rule as to
admission, whereunder the resident
physician is required to examine all
incomers. In yesterdays Star was a
narrowing tale or rumor of tale OF
the refusal of the hospital to receive
dying consumptive. A tale calcu-
lated to appeal to the sympathies OF
every person that may have read it.
Yet, let me ask how about the unfortu-
nate sick already in the hospital. Has
1t ever occurred to the average person
that it Is not only the invariable rule
but the first principle of safety in any
general hospital, that contagious and
infectious diseases shall be excluded
Otherwise, would not the institution be
hut hot-bed of infection for the
spread of disease? Would not the
dying consumptiye, il admitted, posi-
bly, be the means of injecting an en-
tire ward and exposing the occupantz
thereof to contagion? Would you have
lis taking all corners into those same
wards whether they be consumptive,
possible plague cases, leper suspects,
or what not? Thus far, it has been
the rule to protect the people in the
hospital not to expose them to new
and worse dangers than they may al
ready be afflicted with. Hence the
rule of admission, making 1t the busi-
ness of the resident physician (who by
the way is the servant of the hospital
Eolely and is not biased in his judg-
ment by any outside influences or
practive) to examine and pass upon all
applicants for admission. 1t is also a
duty of the resident physician to have
charge of all patients in the absence OF
the attending physician or surgeon.
For years the greatest of all cries
against the hospital was the failure of
the Trustees to provide resident ply
stefan, always on the. premises. A de-
mand duly recognized as soon as the
institution was financially able to do
so. The attending physician or sur
geon in a private case leaves his ord
ers as to his patient and it is the BUSH
ness of the resident physician to see
that such instructions are duly exc
cuted. In an emergency only does the
resident physician prescribe for tho
patient. Whether an inmate be an oc-
cupant of the INDECENT ward or occupy
a bed in private room, there is a
certain responsibility that attaches to
the hospital. To see. for instance, that
the patient does not, in a fit of deliri-
UNI, throw himself out of window or,
perhaps, if it be a surgical case, III. Ut
an internal hemorrhase before the at
tending doctor whose case he may be
can be summoned. 1t seems not only
reasonable, but in the cause of hui
manity that the resident physician
should know the condition of every
patient in the hcsD'tll, as il is nci al.
ways easy to summon the physician in
general practice, whose case it may be-
Have | said enough to make clear
the very important duties of the resi-
lent physician of hospital, and JUS
tify the rule that prescribes his duty!
But one more argument. Is it not in
the cause Of humanity that the resi-
dent should be present at all orara-
tons? For more than one reason
yes. Once the surgeons has done his
work and leaves the hospital, Is it NOT
of advantage, to that person at least
whose life may be in the balance, that
the resident physician has seen and
knows all that has been done, and is
the more impressed with the necessity
of vigilance and care of the patient?
And right here | say this, and | re-
gard it as of sufficient warrant to JUS
tify the subsequent action of the Trus
tees, that DR.. Hodgins has had pa
tients in the hospital this past six
weeks, patients who rave been under
surgical operation, and the resident
physician has never been given an in
struction as to their case. Had such
a patient suddenly died, the first ques-
ton would have been, "Where was
your resident physician?" and there
then would have been a shuffling to
place the responsibility.
On this very subject, | once asked