Duke University jMedicai, Center, InterGom
I’a^e 3
Sup Yi
Cotnet
by (’haki.es II. Fkexzki-
111 June of this year a fi(4(l repre
sentative of the Joint ConiniissioM on
Aeereditation of Hospitals made a
three day survey of Duke Hospital.
Surveys by the Coinniission are made
every three years to determine if the
hospital is maintaiuin" carefull}- des-
iy:nated standards for every area of
aetivity it offers. Pour medical and
hospital orfjanizations eomj)rise the
Joint Commission. The American
College of Physicians, The American
College of Surgeons, The American
Hospital Association and The Ameri
can Medical Association.
The accreditation program is volun
tary on the part of the hosjjital. It is
a costly progi’am—more than half a
million dollars each year comes from
the funds of the four organizations,
in addition to the fees paid by the
hospitals participating. Its purpose
is solely for the benefit of the patient.
Accreditation assures the patient that
everything the hospital does, it does
well.
In August Duke Hospital received
its notice of accreditation for the next
three years. As could be expected we
are not perfect and sixteen recom
mendations were made for the im
provement of our organization and
services. These recommendations in
cluded our need to formalize our hos
pital and medical staff organization,
to record and file the minutes of meet
ings of hospital, medical staff, and
review connnittees, and to sign all
reports and orders in medical records.
The surveyor acknowledged that these
activities were being performed but
that documentation was needed. As a
final comment, he stated: ‘ ‘ The hos
pital is commended for its extensive
building and renovation ])rogram and
long range plaujiing, effective admin
istration, excellent staff organization
and high quality patient care.”
Steps already have been taken to
(Continued on page 5)
The Duke Honpilal
(Chaplaincy Service
It was during the sumnu'r of
tliat a full time (!liaplaincy Service
becanu' an integi-al ])ai't of the Duke
Il()s])ital staff-structure.
There were s(>veral i)eoj)le promot
ing tlie establislniH'nt of tlie service.
Tlie groundwork for the full-time
Chaplaiiu-y Service was laid by Mi-,
lioss Porter, then Su])erinteudent of
Duke Hospital, and Dr. Russell Dicks,
'Professor of Pastoral Care in the Duke
Divinity School as well as chaplain at
the hospital.
Di'. Dicks and ilr. Porter, with the
supi)ort of the N. ('. Conference of
the ]\lethodist Chui'eh, employed in
July of 195() the Keverend P. Wesley
Aitken as the first full-time chaplain.
It would seem that this choice was an
obvious one, for (,'haplain Aitken re
ceived his 15.1). and his Th.]\I. degrees
from the Duke Divinity School. Dur
ing his graduate study, (’haplain Ait
ken trained under the direction of
Dr. Dicks and participated in a “con
siderable amount” of chaplaincy
work. Today ('haplain Aitken is head
of the Duke Hospital ('haplaincy
Service. Assisting him, since 19()1,
is Chai)lain Robert B. Claytor.
In 1957, the year after its creation,
the Chaplaincy Service began the
Program in Clinical Pastoral Train
ing. This Program was established
for those clergy who “wish to take ad
vanced studies in j>astoral ministry.”
Three years ago this (Minical Training
was I'ecognized as “partial fulfill
ment” of the requirements for the
J\Iaster of Theology Degree granted by
the Duke Divinity School.
Although the duties and responsi
bilities of the Chaplaincy Service are
obviously difficult to “spell out,” they
have perhaps been best described in
the following (|uote from Chaplain
Aitken:
“Our ])rimary concern is to pro
vide pastoral assistance for those
who need it while going through
their hospital experience.”
Just as our hospital operates on a
24-hour basis, so does the Chaplainej'
(Continued on page 5)
From
The
Auxiliary
by Hetty liEAcii
We’ve had another busy summer in
the Auxiliary. As usual, the candy-
stripers were a big helj) to us. They
rej)laced those on vacation in at least
fifteen parts of the hospital, as well
as hel])ing us on our services.
We certainly miss Nancy ('raven,
our office manager, who has been ab
sent on sick leave for several weeks.
We hope she will be able to I'eturn to
her desk soon.
We sent our Volunteers chairnuin,
Mary Daugherty, to Los Angeles for
a few days. There she attended a
course on Management Princii)les for
Directors of Volunteers and earned
her certificate in that field. Several of
our volunteers attended a one-day
North (’arolina Hosj)ital Association
workshop in (Jreensboro on October 1.
Mrs. II. Shelton Smith of our Auxil
iary was chairman of this event. Aux-
ilians from member hospitals within
100 miles of Greensboro took j)art in
the workshoj).
In the planning stage is our annual
Thanksgiving bake sale to be held two
days before Thanksgiving. This is
always a big event for both the Auxil
iary and the employees of Duke Medi
cal (’enter, ilrs. Julian Ruffin is
serving as chairnuin this year. All in
all, it looks as if it will be as busy
around here this fall as it was all sum
mer. And we like it that waj- !
1 ho])e you noticed our new mast
head. It was designed by one of our
(!oed w'orkers one Sunday morning at
the coffee counter. And that reminds
me to say how glad we are to see
the coeds back with us once again.