Public Hospitals from 1860-1930

Hello,

I love research and writing historical fiction. Part of that research entails many hours on the Internet reading and looking at articles that will enable me to write with enough knowledge on a topic so that my readers can picture the story easily.

I needed to verify some facts about medical care for my historical novel. I found this article on the emergence of public hospitals from 1860-1930.

"The American hospital as we know it today emerged over the course of about 60 years, beginning around the time of the Civil War. Physician-staffed hospitals, with professional nursing and specialized departments and services, were products of urbanization and economic expansion during the Second Industrial Revolution—together with massive immigration and rapid strides in medicine itself. About 1880, asepsis (sterilizing) opened broad new horizons for surgeons. As physicians looked to the future with a new sense of hope, hospitals became symbolic of their new optimism and authority."  Click here to read the rest of the article and view a photo of the men's ward in a public hospital during that time period.

Donna