Literary methods in medicine : a lecture delivered before the W.W. Keen Surgical Society of the Jefferson Medical College / by W.W. Keen.

  • Keen, William W. (William Williams), 1837-1932.
Date:
[1897]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Literary methods in medicine : a lecture delivered before the W.W. Keen Surgical Society of the Jefferson Medical College / by W.W. Keen. 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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    A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE W. W. KEEN SURGICAL SOCIETY OF THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE. BY W. W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., Professor of the Principles of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gentlemen,—My subject this evening is Literary Methods in Medicine, and I have selected it for this reason: I well remember how I floundered around in my early medical career, and the many mistakes I made, until I finally evolved from my own experience, together with suggestions from friends with whom I talked on the matter, a method of my own. This method I shall describe to you, and, as it has been very satisfactory to myself, I think it may be of use to you. If you will look in the Medical News for August 12,1893, you will see a similar very admirable paper by Dr. Bayard Holmes, of Chicago, who, so far as I know, has done the best work in this country with the view of urging students of medicine aud doctors to follow out a reasonable, feasible, and practical method of making their knowledge available, first to themselves, and secondly to others. I propose to speak to you on two topics,—first, case-taking, and, second, the writing of papers, or case-using. I would be very glad if you would make notes as we go along, as I think they will be useful to you hereafter. I. Case-taking.—Some of you will become residents in the Jefferson and other hospitals. You will want to write up the history also of your private cases, aud, therefore, you must know how to do it. First, record the name of the person. If the patient is a child, always record the father's name, or, if the father be not living, the mother's. You will very possibly, years later, want to find out the after-history of the patient. A child may thus be reached through the parents. If you are dealing with a married woman, record her husband's name, as, if his name is in the directory, you will be able