Reports of the visitors of examinations deputed by the branch council for England, on the 15th of June, 1866.

  • General Medical Council.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of the visitors of examinations deputed by the branch council for England, on the 15th of June, 1866. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    sent to two hospitals, four to each, to which the Examiners iu Surgery were attached, for Clinical Examination in Surgeiy, at each of which one of us again attended. As we stated, in our fonner Keport, Candidates who are possessed of quahfica- tions obtained before 1861 are exempted from every part of the Primary Examination, from all vn^itten examinations, and from both the Chnical Examinations. The Clinical Examinations in Medicine appeared to us to be very usefully and practically conducted, and the Candidates seemed to diagnose disease, to examine chemically and microscopically, and to answer questions satisfactorily; the Clinical Examinations in Surgery are of necessity much more limited in extent and value, though not without advantage. In the evening of this day all the eleven remaining Candidates were exa- mined mvd voce at six tables, by the six Examiners in Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery; and as each Candidate is questioned for a quarter of an hour at each table, his examination occupies altogether an hour-and-a-half, equally divided between the three subjects. The two Examiners in Midwifery were provided with Pelves and Foetal Heads, but no other preparations of any kind were placed on any of the other tables. The same system is followed in deciding on the merits of the Candidates as in the Primary Examination, except that, as there are six Examiners on this occasion, there are six reports, the Examiners in Medicine and Surgery forming their reports from the combined value of the written, vivd voce, and Clinical parts of the Examination, without defining the merits of each portion sepa- rately. In all that we observed of the dififerent parts of the Examination of individual Candidates we coincided with the decision of the Examiners, and we think the Examinations are fair tests of the Candidate's fitness for Medical Practice. The questions used in both Examinations are annexed for the decision of the Branch Council as to the expediency of their being printed as part of this Report. We did not feel called upon to visit the Examination for the Membership of the College, for the reasons stated in om- last Report. We venture to suggest that there is room for improvement in the Examina- tions on Anatomy and Physiology, which might be made more practical—if not by means of recent dissections, at least by dissected parts, preparations, and bones; and that Pathological preparations might be introduced with advantage at the Pass Examination, unless employed during the Clinical Examination at the liospital, which was done in part at our former visitation. We are of opinion that it would give greater precision to the mode of deciding