Dr. Wilbur noted in his Memoirs that the first important decision he had to make when he assumed the deanship of the Stanford Medical Department on 1 January 1911 was whether to abandon the Cooper College buildings and move to the campus. The availability of patients for teaching and research was the crucial issue. San Francisco was at the time still recuperating and rebuilding from the great earthquake and fire of 1906 and Dr. Wilbur took many long walks through the neighborhoods between Cooper College and the downtown area in order to assess the emerging patterns of urban recovery. It was clear to him that, with the streetcar systems extending as they were, and with the wooden housing to the east, the College would be adjacent to deteriorating neighborhoods which would be a source of abundant "clinical material." Therefore, it seemed to me," he wrote, "that we could get ahead faster by developing the medical school on the Cooper Medical College site. If, in the course of years, San Francisco eliminated the slum areas, the medical school could be transferred to a new site, perhaps to the University campus." But now," he wisely concluded, "such a move would be premature."
He further observed that the campus seemed destined to be the ultimate home for any medical school connected with Stanford University - a prediction fulfilled 48 years later when, in 1959, the school moved to a new Medical Center on the Stanford Campus. [1]
In addition to the availability of teaching patients, Dean Wilbur could have mentioned two other prime assets of the San Francisco location - the substantial Cooper Medical College facilities, and the loyal private physicians willing and able to continue serving as clinical faculty at no cost to the University.
New and Improved Facilities
With these valuable resources in hand Dean Wilbur set about energetically upgrading the Medical Department to a university standard.
As we have seen, the process had already been initiated in 1909-10 by Professor John Maxson Stillman, Wilbur's predecessor as Executive of the Department. Professor Stillman appointed five basic scientists:
(1) Dr. Hans Zinsser, Associate Professor of Bacteriology
(2) Dr. Albert C. Crawford, Professor of Pharmacology
(3) Dr. Ernest C. Dickson, Assistant Professor of Pathology
(4) Dr. Frank T. Blaisdell, Assistant Professor of Applied Anatomy
(5) Mr. R. M. Llamon, Instructor in Anatomy
and began construction of lab space in the old Museum buildings on the campus [2]
Construction of laboratories for the work in Bacteriology, Pharmacology, and Anatomy in the old Museum buildings on the campus was completed in 1910-11 and the labs were well equipped. The pathology work in San Francisco was carried on with the apparatus and laboratory formerly used by Cooper Medical College. The physiology laboratory in the College building was arranged to serve as a laboratory for medical research. [3] [4]
In 1912-13 the Division of Pharmacology was transferred from the campus to the fifth floor of the Clinical and Laboratory Building in San Francisco, occupying a new laboratory in the rooms formerly used for topographical anatomy, which was moved to the campus. [5]
Also during 1912-13 the Lane Medical Library was opened. Books, journals and other holdings of the Lane collection were transferred to the new Library from the Clinical and Laboratory Building which was then extensively remodeled, the first two floors being devoted entirely to clinics and the upper three floors to laboratories. This rearrangement, together with the conversion of Lane Hall to an amphitheater, was very satisfactory and provided facilities for handling the rapidly growing clinic where there was a record 70,000 visits in the year ending 30 June 1913. [6]
The new faculty appointments and space allocations outlined above laid a firm foundation for preclinical instruction upon a true University basis. Dean Wilbur's further objective was to create academic and physical conditions in the clinical divisions similar to those evolving in the professorships and laboratories of the basic sciences.
San Francisco City and County Hospital
The teaching services at San Francisco City and County Hospital, shared to an equal extent with the Medical Department of the University of California, were a major component of the Stanford clinical program. However, the Hospital, hopelessly outmoded, was closed in 1910 and construction of its modern replacement begun. It was not until five years later that Dr. Wilbur, now President of the University, could issue the following announcement of its re-opening: [7] [8]
| The new City and County Hospital of San Francisco, erected at a cost of two million dollars, was occupied on 1 May 1915. It is one of the most beautiful and complete structures of its kind in America. The Medical School controls one hundred beds averaging about a thousand patients per year. Stanford University was assigned two excellent wards (Wards C and D on the upper floors of one of the ward buildings), and there has been an increase in the house staff on the Stanford service to five interns and one house officer appointed by the School. With increased interns, and with the splendid facilities offered by this large institution, a great advantage has been obtained for the medical faculty and students. [9] |
Lane Hospital
During the year ending 31 July 1915 extensive structural and equipment improvements were completed that increased the efficiency and scope of service in Lane Hospital. For example, a new power plant and new circulating refrigeration system were installed; the entire fourth floor, on which was situated the kitchen and dining rooms, was reconstructed and the hospital was renovated throughout. As a result, Hospital admissions and Clinic visits were increased, and the Annual Report of the Hospital for the year ending July 31, 1915 portrayed Lane Hospital as a dynamic institution, intensively utilized and taking steps to maintain and improve services and standards. [10] [11]
Stanford University Hospital. With the change of Lane Hospital and the Medical School to a university basis, the teaching uses of Lane Hospital rapidly expanded. The increased number of clinic patients and the demands for space for student uses crowded the Lane accommodations to such a degree that other provisions had to be made for private patients.
In a resounding vote of confidence in Dean Wilbur and the Medical Department during the tense period of financial uncertainty to which we have already referred, the Board of Trustees of Stanford University approved planning and construction of the Stanford University Hospital. It was intended especially for the care and comfort of private patients, so that Lane Hospital could be conducted as a staff and clinic hospital for teaching purposes.
In the spring of 1914 the Clinical Committee began to work steadily with the architects in preparing plans for Stanford University Hospital. On 24 June 1916 excavation was started for the foundation of the new hospital to be located on Clay Street immediately adjacent to Lane Hospital. Plans called for about 45 private rooms and 125 ward beds. The appropriation of $ 500,000 for the new construction included funds for two clinical laboratories and a new power plant to serve all the Medical Department buildings. [12] [13]
On 22 December 1917 Stanford University Hospital was opened for inspection, and was ready for patients on 26 December 1917. The expectations of the Faculty as to the outcome of the plans for the institution were more than realized, as testified by its immediate popularity with both patients and physicians.
The Clinical Committee in charge of Planning the new hospital consisted of Dean Wilbur, Chairman; Dr. George B. Somers, Secretary; and Doctors William Ophüls, A. B. Spalding and Stanley Stillman. The features planned by the committee included operating rooms; hydrotherapeutic, electrotherapeutic and X-ray departments; numerous solaria and balconies connected with the private rooms; ample size and complete equipment of service kitchens, utility and supply rooms; and generous accommodations for special nurses in the line of dressing rooms, rest rooms, locker rooms, baths, etc. [14] [15]
During the year September 1 1918 to September 1, 1919 Stanford University Hospital was improved by the addition of 26 more rooms. Two floors of the new hospital had been left unfinished until such time as demands for accommodations should warrant their completion. The original plan was to use the uncompleted space for ward beds, but experience showed that private rooms were in much greater demand than wards, and the plans were changed accordingly. The new rooms filled up at once and proved very popular, as they were large and quiet. [16]
In the President's Report of 1917-18, Dr. Wilbur commented on the important programmatic contribution of Stanford University Hospital and the other facilities planned during his deanship: [17]
| The Stanford Hospital in San Francisco has been in operation since December 26, 1917. It is undoubtedly one of the best institutions of its kind. It is now possible for the members of the medical staff to have available under one roof practically everything needed for the care of patients, instruction of students and research work. The combination of the Lane Medical Library, the laboratories of the Medical School and hospital, the public clinics, the clinical wards of Lane Hospital, the private rooms and the consultation rooms of the Stanford Hospital, has met the problem of the medical teacher in a most satisfactory way. The arrangement is also most economical from the standpoint of time and the distribution of all overhead expenses between the Medical School, private rooms and clinical wards. |