The need for reform of the medical examination system / by T. Pridgin Teale.

  • Teale, T. Pridgin (Thomas Pridgin), 1831-1923.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The need for reform of the medical examination system / by T. Pridgin Teale. 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.

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    bear me out when I claim to have occupied during- my twenty years of service here but little time in making' speeches. On the former, I wish to state views which have been forcing themselves upon my mind more and more, silence about which on my part might be blameworthy, and for the utterance of which no fit opportunity has heretofore seemed to have arisen. During the past twenty years the Council has added to the subjects which have of necessity to be examined upon, has doubled the number of examinations which have to be passed, has, by its visita- tions and inspections, increased the stringency of examinations, that is, has caused a higher percentage of rejections, and finally has added one year to the medical course. All has been done with this object, that the medical practitioner may be turned out a more perfect article, and that incompetent men mav be excluded from our profession. You may rightly ask on what evidence such opinions, as are expressed in the motion, are based. They are based upon : 1. The statistics of rejections, as reported to this Council. 2. The fallibility of examination in respect of: (a) The element of chance. (b) The inevitable hurry with which a great portion of our examinations have to be conducted. (c) The unsuitable misguiding questions which appear in examination papers. 3. The interference with clinical work. 4. The probable working out in practice of the five years’ course. 5. The cost to parents of multiplied rejections. i. -The Statistics of Rejections. Let us take the first point, the statistics of rejections, and inquire what lessons they teach, and see wliat has been the attitude of the Council towards this question. On May 25th, 1876 (Minutes, XIII., p. 135), it was Moved by Dr. Andrew Wood, and Seconded by Mr. Quain, and agreed to : “ That the table showing results of examinations for degrees, diplomas, and licences granted in 1S75 by the bodies in Schedule A of the Medical Act be l eferred to a committee to consider the table of results, with reference to so large a number of rejections, and to report thereon.”