 | The University of Virginia record February, 1908 |  |
OBSTETRICS.
Professor Macon.
This subject is presented to the student by lectures, with frequent oral
examinations, by a series of manikin demonstrations, by work with the
living subject in the wards of the Hospital, and by attendance on patients
in the out-patient obstetric service connected with the Dispensary.
The manikin course forms an important part of the work not only for
teaching presentation, position and posture, but also the mechanism of
normal and abnormal labor, and application of forceps. The class is
divided into sections of five each, and a knowledge of the manikin work
will form a part of the examination for graduation in this department.
After a section has finished the manikin course, it is taken into the
wards of the Hospital, where the methods of examination, particularly
abdominal palpation, are practised on the living subject. Each section is
required to fill up a carefully prepared form, so that all the details of the
case of the patient before labor is made familiar to the student.
The number of out-patient cases is increasing year by year and is
becoming an important part of the teaching. The clinical assistant in
obstetrics is prepared at any time to accompany a student to the home of a
patient, and is provided with the necessary armamentarium for conducting
a case. The large negro population in the neighborhood of Charlottesville
affords a class of patients which presents all the difficulties to clean work
for one who is trying to educate an "aseptic center." If asepsis can be
secured in a hovel it can be preserved in a palace. The student is thus
taught how to manage cases by himself and at the same time avoids falling
into the slovenly habits he is sure to form without proper guidance.
| The University of Virginia record February, 1908 | |