Medical education and the midwife problem in the United States / J. Whitridge Williams.

  • Williams, J. Whitridge (John Whitridge), 1866-1931.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medical education and the midwife problem in the United States / J. Whitridge Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    12/38 (page 10)
    On analyzing the detailed replies in this regard, it is found that twenty of the thirty-eight services send assistants to all cases, bnt that only fourteen send nurses, so that considerably less than one-half are organized on a proper basis. Further analysis also reveals the interesting fact that the ten larger services are as a rule, much better organized than the twenty- eight smaller, as the replies indicate that assistants are sent to all cases by nine of the former, as compared with eleven of the latter; while nurses are utilized in five of the large and in nine of the small services. In order to give an approximate idea of the total amount of clinical material available, I have calculated the total number of ward and out-patient cases in the various schools, on the supposition that two students see and examine each in-door, and one student each out- door patient. The following table shows a progressive decrease in the number of cases in each of the four groups, according as the schools require for entrance two years, or one year of college work, or merely a high school education, or less: I. 10 cases to each student, with extremes of 2 and 21 cases II. 7 cases to each student, with extremes of 3 and 10 cases III. 6 cases to each student, with extremes of 1 and 27 cases IV. 3 cases to each student, with extremes of 0 and 12 cases At the same time, it must be admitted that the average for the first group is considerably too high, which is due to the fact that one of the schools in this category has an immense hospital and out-door service. QUESTION XIII What are your relations with the gynecologic service both in the medical school and the hospital? Answers obtained from forty-two schools show that in twenty-four there is no cooperation, in five cordial cooperation, while in thirteen the two departments are more or less closely united. In the last category, the chairs of obstetrics and gynecology are united in eight schools; in two the chairs are separate but are held by the same incumbent; while in three the professor has a joint hospital service, but teaches only obstetrics.