The Medical Center Library: A Symposium The Concept of the Medical Center

摘要

7lurning to more mundane sources for the answer to "What is a medical center?" I found that the Mi's of the last series of the Inidex Catalogue of the Surgeon Genteral's Office did not include "M.Xedical Centers" as a subject heading. This heading was included for the first time by the Qutarterly Cumulative Index Medicus in volume 5, 1929, with the reference "See also Schools, Medical" and most of the pertinent articles were listed there. Despite the material which I missed by not using headings such as "Group Practice" and "Health Centers," I copied over sixty references-a few in the twenties, considerably more in the thirties, considerably less in the forties, and more in the fifties-from the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus and the Current List of Medical Literature. I read or glanced at the majority of these articles. And as I glanced at or read these articles, my confusion compounded. There were medical centers for specific diseases and conditions. There were medical centers for states. There were rural medical centers, and the roll call of the cities as medical centers was impressive. There were group medical centers and there were medical centers involving people, facilities, and budgets staggering in number, size, and amount. At this point in my education I seriously considered taking my ten minutes to read you the titles of the articles or better still have the citations mimeographed to be distributed while I showed you pictures of buildings neatly labeled: This is a 'Medical Center; This is a University Medical Center; This is the Army Medical Center; This is the Navy MIedical Center; This is a MIedical Center on MAount Scopus; This is a MIEDICAL CENTER.