Efficiency in Medicine

In addition to the many profound changes in the living conditions of mankind which the World War served to bring about, the exigencies developed by the great conflict have helped in a large way to emphasize the possible significance of efficiency and organization in the conduct of human affairs. Prior to the war, considerable attention had already been devoted to the subject of industrial management, and the “system” introduced by Taylor and his followers had been widely introduced into the world of business. With the advent of the struggle between nations for supremacy, the need of conserving the health and working efficiency as well as increasing the work output of the individual was strongly emphasized. Everywhere the preservation of man power and the promotion of its functions became a part of the win-the-war program. Science was applied to the study of industry on a scale never before attempted. Industrial physiology became an expression to conjure with. Hand in hand with investigation of shop management went the examination of the hygienic conditions for work and the problems of fatigue in relation to the work output. Now that the stress of immediate need is no longer so imminent, it is becoming more evident that the welfare of the worker is involved not only in the day’s work but perhaps also in the prolonged continuance of forms of labor that may alter unfavorably his physical or sociological welfare in the long run rather than for the time being.