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Duke Hospital, InterGom
one year period from September 1956
through August 1957.
Only graduates of approved nurs
ing schools were eligible to apply for
traineeships. Selection was based up
on established admissions procedures.
New S3 Million Hospital
Wing Nearing Completion
at Duke University
Duke Hospital’s new $8,386,000
seven-floor addition is now entering
final stage.s of construction and is ex
pected to be completed by March
1957.
Under construction since January
1955, the addition will provide 109
new beds, expanded out-patient facili
ties designed to relieve present crowd
ed conditions, and many improve
ments in existing services.
The addition will bring the total
number of beds to 668, making Duke
Hospital second in size only to Johns
Hopkins among private general hos
pitals in the South.
Exterior work is complete except
for construction of the front entrance
to the out-patient clinic, masonry
trimming and building of walkways.
Inside the wing, finishing is inider
way on the two patient room floors
and the operating room floor, while
more extensive work remains to be
done on the lower flooi’s. The entrance
to the out-patient clinic will be at the
east front of the hospital opposite a
612-car parking lot which has just
been paved.
Supt. Koss Porter pointed out that
the addition will call for a marked in
crease in hospital personnel. “New
surgical facilities will provide em
ployment opportunities under greatly
improved working (conditions for a
large number of operating room
nurses,” he said. “The expanded
hospital staff also will include general
duty nurses, x-ray and medical tech
nicians, dietitians and other kinds
of personnel.”
In addition to 10 new operating
rooms, surgical facilities in the wing
will feature such innovations as set
up and preparation rooms, to expedite
surgery and provide for more efficient
use of facilities; an intensive nursing
area for special care of patients most
in need of attention; and lounges for
operating room doctors and nurses.
The new clinic facilities are de
signed to serve an average of some
50 out-patients per day—more than
twice as many as existing facilities
were designed to accommodate. Oc
cupying three floors of the wing, the
out-patient facilities will reduce wait
ing time and provide faster and more
efficient medical service.
An ambulatory dining room will be
provided in the new wing for in
patients who are able to walk and
prefer not to eat in their rooms.
The addition also will open up new
classrooms for the Duke University
School of Medicine and will make
available better employee facilities,
including lockers and lounges, a larg
er cafeteria and more space for busi
ness and administrative offices. *