Phoenix Memorial Research Articles

Code 99 & the Cross

Jennifer Lee W. Grand, RN, BSN, CCRN,critical care case manager at Phoenix Memorial Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona, has worked in critical care for 25 years. She serves on the hospital ethics committee and is a parish nurse at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

Rising from the Ashes: the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and the corporatization of university‐based scientific research

Summary A plethora of books and articles have appeared recently that announce the global triumph of corporate capitalism and its attendant ideologies. Nowhere are these articles more scathing in their critique of corporatization than in the field of education. However, few have taken a historical perspective in examining the institutional policies and practices that paved the way for private‐sector influence and the adoption of business and administrative sensibilities in higher education. This article examines the University of Michigan (U‐M) between 1945 and the early 1960s as a case study of the kinds of physical and philosophical changes that occurred to usher in the process of corporatization at a major research university. I focus predominantly on one major research effort‐‐the Phoenix Memorial Project‐‐that set in motion many of the forces that would effectively reshape the school's philosophy and practices. The article begins with a discussion of the ideological and political tensions that characterized the course of U‐M scientific research after World War II, particularly the complex intermingling of university, government and corporate interests. Next, I document the Phoenix Project itself and the emphasis on institutional restructuring for capital investment that it inspired. Despite conflicting and contradictory ideas about links between education and both military and corporate research interests, U‐M's top administrators restructured the university to attract venture capital by constructing innovative mechanisms for integrating investors’ needs into the work of academic (mostly scientific) inquiry. Finally, I want to look at some of the cultural narratives that enabled this triumph of corporate interests to infuse itself into the U‐M's institutional and social mission.

Phoenix Memorial Hospital

Phoenix Memorial Hospital

Nurse-midwifery peer review at Phoenix Memorial Hospital

Peer review is now recognized as an essential component of nurse-midwifery practice. Over the past several years, most professional organizations have published guidelines for the establishment of peer review programs. The nurse-midwifery service at Phoenix Memorial Hospital has had a functioning, dynamic peer review system in effect since 1980. This article describes the program and provides suggestions to others who are attempting to institute peer review activities in their own services.

Real time neutron radiography using a Lixi neutron imaging device

A real time neutron radiography system has been developed at the University of Michigan Phoenix Memorial Laboratory (PML) and has recently been used to test the imaging capabilities of a neutron imaging device developed by Lixi, Inc. of Downers Grove, Ill. This device uses an input phosphor that is high in gadolinium to generate a light image which is then sent through an intensifier stage to provide images that can be viewed by eye, video camera, or standard 35 mm camera. It was determined that this device provides images of much higher resolution and sensitivity than those obtained with the imaging system currently being used at PML. Using computerized image enhancement techniques, the images obtained with the Lixi neutron imaging device can then be futher enhanced or processed to obtain quantitative information on the object being imaged.

Part II: Consumer Satisfaction During One Year

The birthing room concept (BRC) at Phoenix Memorial includes personal involvement in birth plans; labor and delivery in the same bed; no separation of infant and family; discharge within 12 to 24 hours after the birth; unlimited sibling, family, and friend visitation; and the option of having family, friends, and children, in addition to the coach, attend the birth. In Part I, BRC development via medical and nursing channels, the physical remodeling, descriptive data on consumers, and morbidity and transfer statistics are detailed. In Part II, results of a consumer questionnaire are presented: why consumers chose the birthing room, overall consumer satisfaction, home births averted, impact of children's presence at birth, value of the Visiting Nurse Service, and changes consumers would make to enhance future births. Data for the two papers were collected during separate but overlapping time periods. No correlations were made as the data were initially collected for separate purposes. (See, also, separate abstract for each article.) To evaluate the birthing room concept and its implementation at Phoenix Memorial Hospital, questionnaires were mailed to all consumers using it during a one-year period. There was an 89.3% return rate of the 122 deliverable questionnaires. The purposes of averting the rise in home births and providing enhanced consumer satisfaction were being met. A total of 33% of home births were apparently averted; however, 19.3% indicated they would still consider home birth in the future. Overall response to the birthing room concept was rated as positive by 98.2%.

Part I: Development and Eighteen Months' Statistics

The birthing room concept (BRC) at Phoenix Memorial includes personal involvement in birth plans; labor and delivery in the same bed; no separation of infant and family; discharge within 12 to 24 hours after the birth; unlimited sibling, family, and friend visitation; and the option of having family, friends, and children, in addition to the coach, attend the birth. In Part I, BRC development via medical and nursing channels, the physical remodeling, descriptive data on consumers, and morbidity and transfer statistics are detailed. In Part II, results of a consumer questionnaire are presented: why consumers chose the birthing room, overall consumer satisfaction, home births averted, impact of children's presence at birth, value of the Visiting Nurse Service, and changes consumers would make to enhance future births. Data for the two papers were collected during separate but overlapping time periods. No correlations were made as the data were initially collected for separate purposes. (See, also, separate abstract for each article.) Development of a birthing room concept and its implementation at Phoenix Memorial Hospital is described, and one-and-a-half years of birthing room experience is presented through a review of birthing room records. Descriptive data on 196 mothers and infants are summarized. A 21% maternal problem rate is reported, along with a 17% infant problem rate. Intrapartum in-hospital transfers out of the birthing room program occurred in 5% of the total birthing room families. The problems encountered and the reasons for the transfers are explorach.

More on Mercury

This piece presents a letter from John D. Jones, Laboratory Supervisor, Phoenix Memorial Laboratory, University of Michigan. The letter concerns an article which appeared in the April 15, 1970 issue of “Willing Water” concerning the problem of mercury in water supplies. The author takes issue with the ommission in the article of “one of the most sensitive and precise methods of analysis known ‐ that is neutron activation analysis.”