Ideals of medical education : the address in medicine, Yale University, 1891 / by John S. Billings.

  • Billings, John S. (John Shaw), 1838-1913.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ideals of medical education : the address in medicine, Yale University, 1891 / by John S. Billings. 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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    human anatomy, physiology, and pathology—and that the men thus prepared should go to the great Hospital Medical Schools of London to obtain their clinical training, after which, they may return and pass their final examinations and obtain the coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine from the university. There is no doubt that this can be done, and that a great part of the scientific foundation of a complete medical training can be furnished by a well equipped university, with little or no reference to clinical instruction at the same time and place. This, for example, is the course followed by many of the stu- dents in the medical department of the University of Virginia, and it seems to me that there is also no doubt that the men who go through such a course of training, followed by clinical train- ing in a great city, will have a better course of instruction, a wider exj)erience, and a better chance of seeing and appreciat- ing the methods of great clinical teachers, than would the ma- jority of those who obtained their clinical as well as their scien- tific training in the small town, or than those who obtain all their instruction in a large school devoted exclusively to medical studies. Upon this last point I need not dwell, for Dr. Welch, in his address before you in 1888, has clearly pointed out the ad- vantages of giving to a medical school an university atmosphere, and of making the union of the school and the university close and intimate. It should be noted, however, that the more true this is, the more it is the* duty of an university to maintain such a school, because educational work which cannot be, or is not, done so well elsewhere, has superior claims upon university aid. The chief thing which can be said in favor of the attempt to attract a large number of medical students of average quali- fications to an institution having the means to give the higher education are, first, that it brings in more money—and, second, that it enables those professors who desire advanced workers, to select these from a somewhat wider field. Also it should be remembered that the small hospitals of from 50 to 100 beds should be fully utilized for clinical teaching, even if they can- not furnish all the clinical material that is desirable for a com- plete course of instruction. It must be confessed that nearly all our great American uni- versities are unwilling to apply their funds to the creation and maintenance of a well equipped medical department. They