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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    about two inches in diameter, which proved to be a cancer of the colon, and accounted for the condition present. Now that you have the history, what will you do with it ? Let me tell you my own method. Different surgeons and physicians pursue many different methods, more or less good. My own method is one that has been evolved from a good deal of experience, and has served not only myself but many of my friends. Either write out your cases on sheets of paper,—and I think the best kind is the legal cap,—or, if you have the luxury, dictate them to a stenographer. File them alphabetically. I have in these two files my cases from January 1,1895, to January 1, 1896. Usually I use two of these in a year, the first containing the names from A to L, the second from M to Z. They are called the Shannon binding cases, and may be obtained of any stationer. The notes of each case can be removed from the file in a moment without disturbing the others. With the notes I file photo- graphs, sketches, or diagrams of the case. Unmounted photographs are better for filing than the mounted. When an operation is done, write up its description at once, so as not to forget the details. From time to time you will add the later notes of each case to complete the later history till the case is terminated. When the history is terminated I file also the temperature chart. When you have taken these, it may be, elaborate notes and filed them, you want to make this mass of notes available. You must, therefore, index them. First index every case by name, and secondly by disease or operation. A double catalogue is therefore indispensable. The Library Bureau, 146 Franklin Street, Boston, supplies every necessary appliance for large and small libraries, including cards of a uniform size, but varying thicknesses. (I always use a medium weight.) Neat cases, holding two, four, six, or more drawers, in which the cards fit exactly, with taller cards on which the alphabetical divisions are written and project a little above the other cards, are placed at con- venient spaces, to enable one readily to find the desired card. By all means get these inexpensive cards at once. The case holding the cards you can get later, when your patients are more numerous and your purses better filled. Simple envelope-boxes will answer very well for the first few years. Here are two drawers from my own card catalogue of my cases. In the first are the names of all the patients whose his- tories I have from A to L. In another those from M to Z. They are indexed under A, B, C, etc., and are then subdivided by the first vowel in the name. Bates would be under Ba, Bloodgood under Bo, and so on. If I wish, for example, to find the history of