PATIENT ADMISSION - HISTORY AND PRAGMATIC S OF HOSPITAL ADMISSION

The article studies the processes of patient selection on arrival at t he hospital. It looks at the historical origins of the different forms of taking care of the misfortune that coexist in the hospital, and sh ows how these different forms govern the hospital's relations with the outside world. From observations carried out in a medical al emergenc y ward in a modern hospital, it highlights the role played in the admi ssion process by different aspects of the ''mobilizing value'' of pati ents. The article ends with a reflection on the relationship between d etailed observation of activities as carried on by our contemporaries and the historic origins of the arrangements that in part guide these activities in the present.