DUKE
HOSPITAL
fi
VOL. 5, NO. 5
JUNE, 1959
DURHAM, N. C.
Hospital
Ad ministration
Challenge to Mind
and Heart
111 1924 Jaiiie.s H. Dtiko wrote in tiu'
liuleiitiire establisliiii>: ttie Duke
(lowineiit, “I have selw-ted hospitals
as one of the principal objects of this
trust because I recoj>iiize that tliey
have become iiuiispeiisable institu
tions. ...” Also in(lisi)ensable are
persons to direct tliese hos])itals.
And these persons must have a sound
educational backfjround coupled with
tact and human understandiuo'.
Duke University Medical (’enter
has a special niche in the story of
the development of traininij: for hos
pital administrators. The |)ro>ram
at Duke and one at the I'nivei'sity of
Chicago were the first two offered in
the field. Need foi- such trainin'? was
demonstrated when Dean Davison un
dertook to find the first administrator
for Duke Hospital. He discovered
that very few men were either trained
or qualified to administer the business
affairs of a hospital. The usual pro
cedure was to emi)loy a doctoi' with
some talent for administration or a
nurse who had had administrative
experience in nursing sei'vice. The
first superintendent of Duke Hos])ital
w’as Mr. J\I. p]. Win.ston who had had
experience in a small communitj' hos
pital. To serve j)rece])torshi])s under
Mr. Winston, Di-. Davison ajiiiointed
two young men: Wriu)n Altvater
from Duke and Ro.ss Portei' fi'om
('arolina. Such was the beginning of
this Medical Centi'r’s Program in Hos
pital Administration. Both of these
first two students eventually served
/
V
Students and faculty gather in Conference Room of Duke University Medical
Center to di.scuss problems in hospital administration. Left to right: Bill
Smitli, Ted (’lapp, Jim Shinn, Grant Hur.st, Dan Lewis, (’harles Preiizel—
Hospital Superintendent and Associate Professor of H()s])ital Administration;
Llwood Pjason, Jim Knlpan, Ijouis Swanson—Assistant Superintendent and
As.s^()ciate Professor of Hospital Administration; Pete Geilich, and Donald
Smith—Administrative Assistant and Instructor in Hos]>ital Administration.
as Superintendent of Duke Hospital,
in the country at large there were
very few courses in the field until
after World War II. There are now
18 ])rograms, and the number of grad
uates has increased each year. About
•'!()() men trained in hosiiital adminis
tration will be graduated in 1959.
The Duke course was established to
provide well-trained administrators
for the South to help raise the stand
ards of hospital care. It gradually
became more formalized, and by
World War II was a well-organized
certificate program. The number of
students increased, also, over the
years. Since the war the class has
numbered eight. A])])licants for the
Duke ^ledieal Center (‘onrse must be
college graduates. Although an un
dergraduate background in business
administration is advantagc'ous, selec
tion is based on men not courses.
Personal (lualifieations are of prime
importance. About 75 per cent of the
students come from the South; about
50 jier cent from Duke University.
Two students (usually from a candi
date field of 12 to 15) are appointed in
-July and January each year. With
two mnv students joining six more
experienced classmates a vertical-
learning system is possible: students
learii not only from their instructors
but from their fellow students.
The effectiveness of the course in
Hospital Administration has been
((’ontiinied on page 7)