Medicine Moves to the Mall (Center Books on Space, Place, and Time) [Hardcover]

David Charles Sloane (Author), Beverlie Conant Sloane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2002 | ISBN-10: 080187064X | ISBN-13: 978-0801870644 | Edition: 1

The shopping mall seems an unlikely place to go for health care services. Yet, the mall has become home to such services as well as a model for redesigning other health care facilities. In Medicine Moves to the Mall, David Charles Sloane and Beverlie Conant Sloane document the historical changes to our health care landscape by exploring the interactions between medicine and place. This unique combination of architectural history and the history of medicine provides a thought-provoking analysis of the geography of the practice of medicine.

The book presents three essays, each accompanied by a gallery of historical and recent photos. The authors discuss the rise of modern hospitals and how they were shaped into scientifically sterile and humanly stark "medical workshops." Starting in the 1970s, hospital facilities were altered in appearance to become more friendly and welcoming. The integration of a shopping mall's spaciousness and open design with technology and scientific innovation served in "humanizing the hospital." Most recently, the accessibility and convenience of shopping center and roadside clinics have invited Americans to go "shopping for health" in the increasingly commercialized medical system.

Medicine Moves to the Mall will appeal to scholars and professionals in fields ranging from health care to cultural geography and from urban studies to architectural history, as well as to readers interested in the shifting status of medicine in American society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

After reading Medicine Moves to the Mall, you will see your local hospital or strip mall doctor's office in an entirely new light.

(Nancy Tomes Journal of American History 2004)

A fascinating history of the hospital.

(Choice 2003)

An interesting book that explains some of the many changes that the organization of medical care in this country has undergone. The illustrations are very well chosen, and they greatly enhance the text. It will find a warm welcome from several communities of scholars, ranging from geography to health care.

(Gert H. Brieger, M.D., Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University )

The authors do an effective job of linking changes in the sites at which medical services are offered to changes in medical practice, in medical economics, and in patterns of American commerce and urbanism. The writing is eloquent and persuasive in its arguments that the stereotype of the doctor's office and the hospital as the focal points of medical practice has never been accurate.

(Dell Upton, College of Environmental Design )

About the Author

David Charles Sloane is an associate professor of policy, planning, and development, and Beverlie Conant Sloane is a clinical associate professor of family medicine, at the University of Southern California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (December 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080187064X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801870644
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,284,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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