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A study of human relations in a hospital. (Temple Burling; Apr. 26, 1950) This study is only about half completed, so this will be in the nature of a progress report, rather than a finished account. The American Hospital Association, interested in the development of supervisory training material on human relations for use in hospitals, requested the industrial sociology group at the University of Chicago to prepare such a course. The group suggested that it make a study of human relations in some hospitals before developing a course. Three hospitals in the Chicago area were studied, chiefly from the point of view of the relations between hospital administration and medical staff. These studies showed that the hospital is a strikingly different type of organization from the industrial plant.
The American Hospital Association requested the School of Industrial and Labor Relations to undertake a study in human relations in a hospital. An endowed general hospital in Elmira (N.Y.) was selected. The study is being made by an industrial sociologist. We feel that a single study is pretty unsatisfactory because of the difficulty in determining what is general and what is unique. This hospital is unique, notably in the fact that it is in a very comfortable financial situation.
Although the hospital has a large endowed income, it is reported to be operating at a loss to the general public, the hospital employees, and the medical staff. There exists a transfer from the world of business to a different type of organization, namely the hospital, of the principle that unless the operating income is at least equal to operating expenditures, the organization is on an unsound basis. Another principle which governs the operation of the hospital is that every patient served by it should pay for what he gets, either by his own direct resources, through membership in the Blue Cross, or by application to the county relief agency for classification as a medical indigent. These considerations