Article October 30, 1909 Issue

Striking illustrations of the rapid decline in the use of...

Record-Herald

Striking illustrations of the rapid decline in the use of drugs in the hospitals of the country featured the session of the eleventh annual conference of the American Hospital Association here. They were shown in the report of the committee on hospital efficiency, hospital finance, and economics of administration, which was presented by Dr. R. R. Ross, superintendent of the Buffalo (N. Y.) General Hospital.

Dr. Ross declared that fifteen years ago the annual cost of medicines for each patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital was over two dollars, while last year it was only ninety-one cents. He showed that the cost of drugs in the Buffalo General Hospital also had shown a decrease for the last year. "It is difficult to predict what the future of medicine in hospitals is going to be," said Dr. Ross. "Undoubtedly drugs will continue to be used, but other agencies or some agency still unknown to us will have a place. They will perhaps be doctors to preach and pray, doctors to prescribe the correct methods for the use of the mind, specialists on fresh air and exercise, and doctors to prescribe drugs and operate. These statements may seem to be in lighter vein, yet hospitals are beginning to adapt themselves to the changed conditions."

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