Capsules

P: Medical experts believe that U.S. communities should have 4.5 general hospital beds per 1,000 population. Inching toward that ideal, the national average is now 4.2, the Health Information Foundation reported. Highest regional tally: 4.9 in the Mountain States (despite a pull-down by Utah with only 3.1). Lowest: a bloc comprising Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, all with fewer than 3.6.

P: To spare patients and staff the insistent, nerve-racking clangor of bells or "squawk boxes" long used to summon doctors, St. Thomas' Hospital in London adopted some helpful gadgetry. Hooked up to a magnetic loop surrounding the hospital is a transmitter rigged for 56 different frequencies, with one assigned to each staff doctor. When he is wanted, a porter presses the right button, the magnetic impulses actuate a receiver in the doctor's breast pocket so that it gives a discreet "ping, ping," clearly audible to him, not disturbing to others.

P: U.S. doctors generally obey the injunction, "Physician, heal thyself." A.M.A. statisticians found that among 204,450 M.D.s followed for three years, there were 6% fewer deaths than in the general population. Despite physicians' exposure to infectious diseases, their death rates from influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis were about half the national average. They had 7% fewer deaths from cancer, but 35% more from diabetes, and after 60, slightly more from heart disease.

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