Continuity of Ideas and Generations. Historical Facts About the Activities of the Sheremetev Hospital (for the 100th Anniversary of the N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine)

Abstract

BACKGROUND The activities of the Hospice House established by Count N.P. Sheremetev and opened on June 28, 1810, pursued a noble goal to help the suffering, sick and low-income people. However, this intention alone was not enough, and N.P. Sheremetev took care to really ensure the stable work of the Hospice House, providing for both its publicity and reliable state protection.MATERIAL AND RESEARCH METHODS Annual financial statements of the Hospice Board of Trustees for 1862–1866, 1868, 1871, 1872 and 1902 were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. To prepare the article, archival material was used, including 6 sources, as well as rare publications dated 1859–1927. Research methods: historical-genetic, comparative-historical, problem-chronological and systemic.RESULTS The analysis of the activities of the Sheremetev hospital for 1810–1909 showed that funds were enlarged regularly with increasing amounts from its budget for the treatment of patients, which number was maximum in 1865 (1,798 people), and the lowest in 1814 (127 people).The personnel of the Sheremetev Hospital took an active part in all major military operations with the participation of Russia (the creation of sanitary detachments to provide assistance to the wounded and sick in combat areas, as well as additional beds located on the territory of the hospital itself).The Sheremetev Hospital played an important role in higher medical education in Russia, becoming the clinical base of the Moscow Medical and Surgical Academy, and later of the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University; many of its employees were teachers of these educational institutions. The high level of teaching was also ensured by equipping the hospital with modern medical devices and the active introduction of the latest medical achievements into its work.On the initiative of chief doctor A.T. Tarasenkov, a department for incoming patients was organized as an independent structure for the first time in Russia. It provided assistance to 175–200 patients per day. The department became the prototype of a comprehensive outpatient network that was subsequently created in our country.The high prestige of the hospital was brought by the activities of its main doctors and operators, tirelessly working to improve the organizational and medical aspects of the provision of qualified medical care.The final period of the hospital’s activity (1910–1923) until the October Revolution was characterized by the greatest volume of medical work, which subsequently decreased dramatically due to financial difficulties. Since 1919, the hospital functioned as a state institution, and also became the base for the revival of the ambulance service in Moscow.CONCLUSION A review of the activities of the Sheremetev Hospital indicates that the organization of emergency medical care for the population of Moscow, pedagogic work, participation in the treatment of the wounded patients, high surgical activity and versatility were the foundation on which its work was widely developed. It is no coincidence that this particular hospital was reorganized in 1923 into the N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute of Acute Care (since 1944 — N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine).Economic difficulties and political storms could not destroy what was created at the Sheremetev hospital and was the moral and material basis for the further 100 years of successful activity of the institute.