While you are taking Coumadin, be sure to tell your doctor if you change your diet or eating pattern because this is likely to change your vitamin K intake. Your doctor can monitor your PT/INR test closely when your diet changes and can adjust your Coumadin as needed.
The experiments took place at Western Electric's factory at Hawthorne, a suburb of Chicago, in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The preface sets the atmosphere of the story and connects the present with the past. Hawthorne's description of the Salem port of the 1800s is directly related to the past history of the area.