[The Geneva General Hospital 1780 to 1798: some indications of medicalization]

The medicalization of a hospital can be considered in several ways. This study covers the two last decades of the 18th century of the General Hospital of Geneva. In a first part it analyses the space alotted to sick and healthy people, respectively. The internal organization of the hospital discloses the criteria used for selection. The second part analyses the population of patients with respect to age, duration of hospitalization and, if recorded in a meaningful way, the diseases. The majority of patients were under 30 years old and had a stay of less than 30 days. A third aspect of medicalization studied is the role played by various groups of personnel. It shows that the administrators allowed but a limited autonomy to the physicians and surgeons, yet tried to hire high-ranking medical personnel which in turn contributed to the modernization of the hospital.