Servants in Russian Zemstvo Hospitals in the Second Half of the XIX – Early XX Centuries

• Main Author: Anastasia E. Zhukova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Transbaikal State University 2020-12-01
• Series: Гуманитарный вектор
• Subjects: servants; service staff; zemstvo hospitals; history of medicine; russian empire
• Online Access: http://zabvektor.com/wp-content/uploads/211220111209-Zhukova.pdf
• ISSN: 1996-7853; 2542-0038

The article studies professional structure and position of the service staff of zemstvo (county) hospitals in post-reform Russia. The relevance of the subject arises from the lack of historical research aimed at studying such a group of employees of zemstvo hospitals as servants. Recognizing the importance of this category of workers for the effective functioning of medical institutions, as well as fragmentary coverage of this topic in Russian historiography, the author sets the goal of studying the zemstvo hospital serving staff in Russia in the 1860s – 1900s. The study is based on a wide range of sources, including financial reports of the hospitals, proceedings of the county sessions, medical congresses. These sources contain information on the material situation, living conditions and activities of the servants. Using the methods of social history and everyday life history, an analysis of the main characteristics of this group of medical institutions staff is carried out. As a result, the professional categories of servants, existing during the period under review were identified: they include nurses, servants/maids, cooks, watchmen, laundresses, stokers, etc. The article characterizes the serving staff of the hospitals. Moreover, the study observes material factors, such as salaries and living conditions of employees, which were one of the most critical problems for both employees and employers. Low salary, lack of acceptable working and living conditions, implementation of a wide range of functions that often go beyond direct duties – all this made the servants’ position in zemstvo hospitals extremely unfavorable. This could not but affect hospitals organization, the quality of patient care and keeping conditions. Contemporaries drew attention to the existing problems by raising these issues at the county meetings and doctors’ congresses, calling for better work and living conditions for the servants. However, no significant changes or improvements were made in the post-reform period.