Harold C. Lueth

THE IMPROVISED HOSPITAL

The improvised hospital is an important link in the medical care program of civil defense. Even with maximal expansion of existing hospitals to two or three times their present capacities, they would be able to provide for only a fraction of the sick and injured after a large-scale disaster. A review of the considerations of location, designation, and floor plans for improvised hospitals might be helpful here to civil defense planning and operation. The important steps of staffing and developing routine management procedures for improvised hospitals must be done well in advance of the actual opening and operation of these institutions. Establishment of improvised hospitals and making provisions for procurement, storage, and replenishment of supplies consumed in active operation are essential steps in providing good medical care for the patients admitted to these hospitals. This report will present lists of suggested duties of physicians, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, nurses, nurses aides,

Pain: Time of Occurrence Following Temporary Coronary Occlusion.

Lewis,1 by an ingenious method, studied the time factor in the production of pain following temporary complete obstruction of the brachial artery. After an interval of 70 to 75 seconds, obstruction of the brachial artery caused unbearable pain. He thinks that during this interval a change in metabolites may be the factor in producing pain and has called this the “P-factor”. Lewis used as a criterion of pain, that unbearable end point in order to eliminate the psychic factor. In our earlier experiments when the coronary artery was temporarily occluded, pain was observed immediately.2, 3 The question raised by Lewis as to the discrepancy apparent between the results by different methods of study suggested further investigation.Method. 20 dogs were used. Briefly, the chest was opened under ether anesthesia, and artificial respiration given at once. The pericardium was exposed, opened, and a tough linen suture passed around the ramus descendens branch of the left coronary artery as close to its origin as was ...