Cone Hospital review [July, 1982]

              review
THE MOSES H. CONE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
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DR. FISHER HEADS
MEDICAL BOARD
PSYCHOLOGIST STUDYING INFANT BEHAVIOR
AT CONE REPORTS NEW FINDINGS
Otis N. Fisher, M.D. has been elected President of the Medical Board at
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital for a one-year term commencing
July 1. He succeeds Edwin L. Bryan,
M.D. Richard M. Doughten, M.D.
was named President-elect, Alfred H.
Garvey, M.D. is Vice-President and
David M. Kaplan, M.D. is Secretary.
Dr. Fisher was first appointed to the
hospital's Radiology Staff in 1968, and
has served as Chief of Radiology since
1977. He serves on the clinical faculty
in   Radiology   at  the   University   of
HEALTH EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES
Diabetes Classes
Community Diabetes Service offers
two four-week series of diabetes classes
monthly. One series of classes is
scheduled during morning hours and
the second series is scheduled during
evening hours. The classes are open to
the public at no charge. Persons
wishing to pre-register should call 379-
3871. Community Diabetes Service is
jointly sponsored by Guilford County
Health Department, Wesley Long
Community Hospital and The Moses
H. Cone Memorial Hospital.
CPR Instruction
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
classes, open to anyone 14 years of age
and older, are offered monthly at The
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital.
The classes are structured to prepare
non-medical persons to be able to
recognize the symptoms of cardiac or
respiratory arrest and how to take appropriate action for basic cardiac support. Persons successfully passing the
course will be certified as Basic
Rescuers through the American Heart
Association.
No fee is charged for the classes
which are held the third Monday and
Tuesday of each month from 6:30 p.m.
until 10:00 p.m. Interested persons
should call 379-4173 between 8:30 a.m.
and 4:00 p.m. to pre-register for the
course.
(Continued on page 3)
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at
Bowman Gray School of Medicine,
Winston-Salem. He was certified by the
American Board of Radiology in 1968,
and was elected to Fellowship by the
American College of Radiology. He is
a past president of the North Carolina
Chapter of the American College of
Radiology, the Greensboro Academy
of Medicine and the North Carolina
Medical Peer Review Foundation. He
holds memberships in the Southeastern
Angiographic Society, American Medical Society, North Carolina and
Guilford County Medical Societies, the
Greensboro Academy of Medicine and
the Radiological Society of North
America.
A Wilmington, North Carolina
native, Dr. Fisher graduated from the
University of North Carolina School of
Medicine in Chapel Hill. He served a
medical internship and residency at the
University of Texas Southwestern
Medical School, Parkland Memorial
Hospital, Dallas, Texas. He was a resident and an instructor for three years
in the Department of Radiology at the
University of North Carolina and had
a Special Fellowship in Vascular
Radiology at Duke University Medical
School, where he also served as an instructor. Dr. Fisher served three years
in the United States Air Force as a
Flight Surgeon.
DR. BARKER IS
CHIEF OF OB-GYN
Julian Barker, M.D., a member of
the hospital's Obstetric-Gynecology
staff since 1962, was appointed Chief of
Obstetric-Gynecology Service at Moses
Cone Hospital, effective July 1. The
Goldsboro, North Carolina native succeeds Harry W. Johnson, M.D., who
held this post for the past six years.
Dr. Barker holds medical degrees
from the State University of Leiden,
Holland and the University of Buffalo
School of Medicine in New York. He
served an internship and a three-year
residency at the University of Texas
Hospitals in Galveston.
He maintains offices for private
practice at 408 Parkway in Greensboro.
Dr. Tony DeCasper puts "quick learning" baby through tasks in research
project.
"A 48-hour old baby can tell time,"
said Dr. Tony DeCasper, a research
psychologist from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, who
has studied newborn infant behavior at
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital since 1976. Through his research,
he has also learned that newborn infants are fast learners, they prefer
"Mom's" voice and they find the
sound of a heartbeat comforting.
Dr. DeCasper conducts experiments
by placing earphones on the infant's
ears and a pacifier in his or her mouth.
"If a baby learns to wait at least four
seconds between sucks on the pacifier,
a lady singer will come on," he said.
"Babies find a female voice to be a
pleasant sound, so we manipulate the
length of time [from three to eight
seconds] the baby will have to wait."
After a few tries the baby learns what
he has to do to hear the singing. These
experiments have given Dr. DeCasper
proof that babies have the biological
capacity to perceive temporal duration.
Not only is a lady singer's voice a potent reward for the infant, but Dr.
DeCasper's experiments have also
shown that a newborn infant has a distinctive preference for his or her own
mother's voice. "They definitely recognize the mother's voice and will
work harder to hear her voice than any
other female voice," he said. He also
says babies can distinguish subtle differences in sounds such as "pa" and
"ba" which is another sign an infant's
hearing is well developed at birth.
Why would nature equip a newborn
this way?
Dr. DeCasper says one important
reason may be to help the baby know
who his mother is. "The baby seems to
sense who will be taking care of him so
he knows who to play up to," he said.
"Maybe that's nature's way of handling the baby's needs."
Curious to see if babies would prefer
their father's voice over the voree of
another male, similar experiments were
conducted by Dr. DeCasper and his
associates, beginning with the father's
presence at the baby's birth. The
fathers were instructed to interact with
their infants as much as possible, and
each father had four to six hours contact with his baby before the baby was
put through the tasks. The findings indicate that babies show no preference
for "Dad's" voice over that of other
males.
Another set of tests proved the
babies could distinguish between male
voices, but that a newborn infant simply prefers female voices — particularly his own mother's voice. "This
is because the baby has been hearing
Mom's voice for several months," Dr.
DeCasper explained.
He emphasized that these implications are not significant to a long term
attachment between father and child.
He believes the father's active involvement at birth helps to promote an early
bond between the two.
There is strong evidence that the
relationship between mother and child
developed and blossomed during the
intrauterine period — giving Mom a
head start on establishing a relationship with baby. Dr. DeCasper
believes the baby can hear inside the
(Continued on page 3)
HOSPITAL RECEIVES
3-YEAR JCAH
ACCREDITATION
The Moses H. Cone Memorial
Hospital has received word that it has
been fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.
The accreditation is for three years instead of the previous two year accreditation. Moses Cone Hospital has
been continuously accredited since
1955.
The Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals is a voluntary effort
to assure the highest quality health care
available. While it is strictly voluntary,
accreditation by the Joint Commission
exempts Moses Cone Hospital from inspection by the State of North Carolina.
The accreditation follows a two day
on-site inspection by a team which included a physician, a nurse and a
hospital administrator. In addition to
surveying the physical plant of the institution, the team reviewed the policies, procedures and records of the
hospital as well as the ongoing quality
control program.
REVIEW       i
ffa
JULY 1982                1
Q^
INSIDE:
Department Spotlight
2
Personnel Policies
2
Thirty Years in Review
3