Arizona republican., 1921-02-08

In addition. the health department maintains 12 venerea1 disease clinics Gall but two advisory only), three oc- cupational clinics and 60 baby health stations. Several private agencies also maintain an additional number of milk stations.
 The average number of persons treated annually in New York dispen- saries has been one and quarter mill lion for the last five years. Over 2,00o New York physicians are giving their services to this cause. in the majority Of cases absolutely without compensation.
 Thus, New York is plentifully SUD- piled with dispensaries, but the Public Health Committee believes that their quality could be improved upon-
 Faults of Dispensaries
 "Of late the dispensaries have taken no functions along the lines of preven- tive medicine and public health, but this development is still in its infancy, l is the committees first criticism. The great opportunities of the dispensaries l in the fields of both curative and pre- ventiye medicine have not as yet been fully grasped by the institutions, nor have their social responsibilities been clearly realized '
 1 In other words, the committee finds i the dispensaries quite efficient in the l treatment of specific ills, such as an abscessed ear or a broken leg, but they do not give complete physical exam nations to determine the general health of a patient; they do not go in for educational work, such as the 1 teaching of good health habits, and l they do not have the time for the sort of follow-up work that would make them one of the greatest social influ- ences in the community. Only a few of the dispensaries. as yet have we'll ] ] Two things that also need immediate amelioration in clinic procedure, 1t says, are the reduction of waiting time before admission and the method of assignment of patients to clinics. l Patients are made to wait unduly long 1 periods of time, which is hardship for most of them if they are employed. or as in the case Of mothers, if they 1 have domestic duties. The committee believes that this could be obviated to i Q large extent by a system of appoint ments, as is customary in private prac- tice. Such system is now proving very successful at the Mayo Clinic at Rochester.
 Then. in most dispensaries. the
 symptoms of the patients are recorded by lay registrar.--usually, the clinic secretary-who makes a rough diag- nosis and assigns the patient to the particular department of the clinic WniCn VIII take care or f1liIl- put ol- ten, after hours of waiting, when he arrives at this department, the diag- nosis turns out to be incorrect, and he has to be transferred to an en- tirely different department-someti
 to an entirely different clinic
 The committee believes that this evil could easily be corrected if each clinic had a diagnostic division, where pa tients with chronic diseases or with
 not easily recognizable maladies. could receive an examination by a group of physicians representing the various
 departments of the dispensary- Be
 cause you have kidney trouble, it is not
 else the matter with sou. general
 examination may disclose other ill: that need attention.
 The Waiting Line
 At an afternoon clinic recently wis fted by the reporter, over 50 people oi the hard-working type were waiting
 for their registrations and first treat
 ments. Some of them were obviously
 suffering, but they continued to si1
 patiently on a row of hard, wooder
 seats, as the afternoon wore on ano
 only a third of their number hao , reached the front office. In the from . office, where one patient was admitted
 at a time, all was confusion. Doctors
 rushed in and out, hunting oslt records
 
 second, and the young lady who was
 attempting to take down the patient
 history wore dazed expression. Do you wonder that l sometime: get the people mixed up2" she asked
 wearily, as the clock pointed to flNt minutes after the clinics closing tune , and the procession of patients stil
 kept on.
 :, ''But think of them," she added sym
 pathetically, some of them slttlne . there all afternoon waiting for then turn and now having 10 go home with out getting any attention at all
 The committee has remedy fol , this evil, also, however. It believes thai } this waiting period of the patients couiC } easily be used for educational pur' } poses. Moving pictures dealing witt
 certain health aspects, it says, could bt shown. large posters concerning healtl . matters could be placed on the wall!
 of the dispensary. where they could bt , read from d distance, and othe' methods of health education emp yed ; Dietetic demonstrations, it believes l would also be of great value in thii . connection. When not in use durini
 clinic hours, the dispensary might als'
 he used for lectures. classes in die