Highlights Newsletter, issued October 1954

              Jsn the ^potliaht thld month
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Workshop for Hospital Administrators
Improvement of the Care of the Patient was the theme of the American
Hospital Association's 56th annual convention held in Chicago, September 13-16.
Present social and political factors that might affect the future of the voluntary
hospital system were outlined. Hospital accreditation as a public service was also
discussed.
Sister Mary Asella, administrator of St. Joseph's and a recently accepted      f
member of the American College of Hospital Administrators, and Sister John
Baptist,  fourth   floor  supervisor,   attended  the   convention.   There  were  some
15,000 delegates representing more than 5,200 hospitals in the United States
and Canada.
The challenging problem of hospital costs was explained by Ray E. Brown,
president-elect of the AHA and head of the University of Chicago hospitals. He
stated that if the wage scale goes up, so do hospital bills, since 70 per cent of
its expenses lie in wages. The best protection for the patient is hospital
insurance.
Concluding sessions dealt with the accreditation survey and the control,
distribution and public acceptance of high quality hospital care.
Operation  Refrigeration
Ice, blankets, thermocoupler — surgeons fully realize the importance of
these new surgical articles along with the generally known scalpel, sponge and
forceps.
In Refrigeration Anesthesia used by cardio-vascular surgeons, operations
are performed which have been previously impossible, such as aortic grafts,
interventricular and interauricular septal defects and other heart and vascular
diseases and anomalies.
In this type of anesthesia the patient is first given an endotrachial anesthetic; the entire body is rubbed with mineral oil and encased in crushed ice. The
focus of attention is the thermocoupler. The only sound in the room is the drip-
drip-drip of the melting ice as the surgical team awaits the signal from the
anesthesiologist that the temperature has reached its level and they may
proceed. There is a gradual decrease until it is stabilized at 80 degrees F. or
35 degrees C.
After several hours metabolic action begins to raise the temperature.
Continuous use of an anesthetic agent is not necessary, but the patient is given
oxygen.
At the completion of the surgical procedure, external body heat is essential
to stimulate an increase of temperature. To accomplish this, the patient is placed
in a hypertherm until the thermocoupler registers 90 degrees F.
The post-operative care, as in all surgical cases, is of utmost importance.
Chest bottles have to be checked for drainage and oscillation to be sure the
lungs are well expanded. A blood pressure level has to be maintained and
general "T.L.C." given to the patient to facilitate a speedy and uncomplicated
recovery.
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