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VOLUME 20, NUMBER 24
JUNE 15, 1973
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Quail Roost Conference Underscores ^Coring*
Hospital Seeks Ways to Improve Service
Are all of us doing everything we can
to make this the kind of place where
patients want to come, and where we
want to work?
When patients go away from here, do
they talk about the kindness, courtesy,
consideration and -warmth they
experienced at Duke, or do they talk
about the lack of it?
Do we who work here realize that
everything we do, regardless of our job,
reflects on each of us individually and on
the stature of the Duke Medical Center?
Perhaps more importaritly, do we care?
Do we take pride in our surroundings
and the hospital atmosphere—to the point
of speaking quietly; picking up a scrap of
paper in a hallway; not burdening
patients with our own troubles; asking
J. ALEXANDER McMAHON
Trustee Receives
N.C.H.A. Award
John Alexander McMahon, president
of the American Hospital Association,
will receive the N.C. Hospital
Association's highest award in a
ceremony at the medical center this
afternoon.
McMahon will receive the award in the
new Medical Center Board Room at 2:30.
He will be at Duke for a meeting of the
University Board of Trustees, of which he
is chairman, and will come to the medical
center from the Allen Building for the
presentation.
Last November McMahon became the
American Hospital Association’s first
full-time president. Prior to that he was
president of N.C. Blue Cross and Blue
Shield, Inc.
The president of the state association,.
Cleveland County Hospital Administrator
Paul S. Ellison of Shelby, said McMahon
was selected for the award—the first to be
made since 1970—"in recognition of his
outstanding contributions to the health
care field in North Carolina."
someone who is obviously lost if we can
help; being considerate and thoughtful of
everyone, including the people with
whom we work?
In short, are we doing everything we
can do to make Duke a true center for
human care?
These questions may seem simple to
answer. They may appear so obvious that
they don't require more than a moment's
thought.
But over the past several months, these
questions and dozens of others like them
have been the focus of literally hundreds
of hours of close examination, study,
analysis and discussion.
The results of these labors—and the
hundreds of more hours that will go into
them in the months ahead—are decisions
that will affect each one of us in very
definite ways and will influence the
medical center's role in personnel
relations and patient care far into the
future.
The work that is under way centers in
what is called the Committee on Patient
Services and Personnel Relations, which
grew out of a meeting in February at the
Quail Roost Conference Center in
northern Durham County.
Reflecting on developments that
resulted in the Quail Roost Conference,
Dr. William G. Aniyan, vice president for
health affairs, made these observations:
"For the last several years we have
been concerned that along with our
growth in size and growth in technical
and scientific complexity in health care,
we were not keeping up in patient
satisfaction.
"The system was geared to give the
finest medical care available," Aniyan
said, "but somehow we were losing track
of the patient as a human being with
feelings and sensitivities."
It was apparent, he said, that this was
not the fault of any particular group, but
instead reflected cross-sectional problems
throughout the medical center and would
require a total re-evaluation of the entire
system.
Aniyan discussed the subject with his
staff, and Hospital Director Dr. Stuart
Sessoms presented the idea to the
Hospital Advisory Committee. A Quail
Roost conference was decided on, and
Dr. Delford L. Stickel, associate hospital
director, was given organizational
responsibility for the conference.
It was decided early that physicians,
and particularly younger members of the
medical faculty and staff,would play the
central role in digging into problems and
presenting their findings at the
conference.
"I thought," the vice president said,
"that the leadership for change should
come from the physicians because it's the
doctor's order that in large measure
triggers the patient-care process."
For many weeks in advance of the
February conference at Quail Roost, four
committees worked up detailed reports
on particular problem areas. Those
committees were:
(continued on page 2)
%
O^VAS
Artificial Limb wirti Feeling
Stimulates Amputee Hope
Artificial limbs have come a long way
from the days of the wooden peg and the
iron hook, but even the most
sophisticated prostheses available today
lack one very important
attribute—feeling.
But now an orthopaedic surgeon at
Duke has developed a prosthesis for the
arm which will allow the amputee
actually to feel pressure in the hook end
of the limb.
Dr. Frank W. Clippinger coupled a
strain gauge in the hook end of the limb
with a surgically implanted electrical
stimulator attached to the amputee's
• median nerve. This provides the patient
with direct sensory information about the
degree of pressure he is exerting at the
hook.
As the patient exerts pressure with the
hook, such as in grasping a glass, the
median nerve in his arm is electrically
stimulated, producing a sensation that
varies from light to strong in direct
proportion to the force exerted at the
hook.
The electrical implants have been
placed in the arms of four patients so far,
and three have been fitted with
prostheses. The first of the four patients
has been using his neuroprosthesis for
two years.
"The only problems we've had so far
have been maintenance ones with the
prosthesis," Clippinger said. "The
(continued on page 2)
na
M
LIMB WITH FEEL/NG-Th\s artificial arm has been fitted by Dr. Frank W. Clippinger
with ap electrical stimulator which, when surgically implanted in the amputee's stump,,
will allow him to feel how much pressure he is exerting with his hook.