 | The University of Virginia record April, 1909 |  |
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SUMMER COURSE
IN PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
Since the recent reorganization of the Medical School of the University
of Virginia it has become evident that much more study should
be devoted to the courses dealing particularly with preventive medicine
and the public health. The extensive distribution of preventable
diseases, such as typhoid fever, malaria, tuberculosis, and hook-worm
disease, with their burden of suffering and economic loss, is becoming
a matter deserving greater attention in the Southern States in view
of the facts that, on the one hand they have now entered upon a
can be attacked with such success by the application of well-known
principles.
Although medical science has already reached a point at which it
can prescribe definite and fairly simple rules for the control of many
of our serious epidemic diseases, and although one trained hygienist
can, if supported by the community, prevent more cases of disease
than many physicians can treat, it is, nevertheless, remarkable how
slight is the public interest in this phase of self-protection, and how
inadequate is the attention bestowed upon the training of hygienists
in most of our institutions.
With a view to correcting this condition of affairs, the University of
Virginia is about to inaugurate courses for the training of those interested
in subjects connected with the preservation and improvement
of the public health. The courses to be offered will include:
A short course of six weeks duration, from June 14th to July 24th,
1909, for medical health officers, medical inspectors, or similar public
officers.
A four years' course, to be started in September, 1909, for the training
of sanitary engineers.
A course of lectures upon selected topics of public health. Some of
these lectures will be intended especially for the public health students,
the others will be open to all students in the University.
The second and third of these courses will be inaugurated at the
opening of the session of 1909-1910, and announcements will appear
in an early number of the University "Record."
The short course for medical inspectors, members of local Boards
of Health, and other students of public health questions, will begin
immediately after the close of the present session.
The health officers of the cities, towns and counties are drawn,
almost exclusively, from the ranks of practicing physicians, and, as
the demands upon health officers increase, they are coming to require
special knowledge and training of a kind not given in medical
schools. The six weeks' course will furnish an introduction to the
special subjects required; it is offered to those just entering the
medical profession as a preparation for positions on boards of health,
and to those already holding such positions it is offered as an aid to
assist in performing their duties with greater satisfaction to themselves
and their communities.
The subjects included in the course are as follows:
Courses of Studies in Preventive Medicine for Summer 1909.
Chemistry—Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 9 to 10:30.
First Week, June 14-19.—Chemistry of Air—Food Preservatives.
Second Week, June 21-26.—Water and Sewage Analysis—Lectures
and Demonstrations.
Third Week, June 28-July 3.—Water and Sewage (continued),
June 29, July 1.
Bacteriology—Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9 to 12.
First Week, June 14-19.—Media Making; Sterilization; Plating;
Isolation; Counting of Colonies.
Second Week, June 21-26.—Bacteriology of Air, Water and Sewage
and Methods of Purification.
Third Week, June 28-July 3.—Bacteriology of Air, Water and
Sewage and Methods of Purification.
Fourth Week, July 5-10.—Typhoid Fever and Allied Diseases.
Fifth Week, July 12-17.—Bacteriology of Milk; Diphtheria.
Sixth Week, July 19-24.—Tuberculosis; Malaria; Uncinariaris.
Medicine—Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 9 to 10.
Fourth Week, July 5-10.—Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases.
Fifth Week, July 12-17.—Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases.
Hygiene—Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 12 to 1:30.
Ventilation, heating, plumbing, and vital statistics during the first
five weeks.
Epidemiology—Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 11 to 12.
First Week, June 14-19.—Diphtheria; Small-Pox; Insect Carriers.
Second Week, June 21-26.—Typhoid Fever.
Third Week, June 28-July 3.—Typhoid Fever.
Fourth Week, July 5-10.—Tuberculosis.
Fifth Week, July 12-17.—Uncinariaris.
The dates for the lectures upon the organization of Health Boards
will be announced later.
It will be noticed that the subjects offered by no means constitute
a complete course in preventive medicine, nor is any subject exhaustively
considered. The main object sought is to review the matters
of immediate importance in as practical and condensed a manner as
possible.
Chemistry will be taught by Dr. Bird through lectures and demonstrations
at which the students assist. One period will be given
up to the examination of the air, with special reference to methods
of analysis and the value to be attached to the results. Another
period will be given to the subject of food preservatives, their
detection and influence upon health. The students will be taught
proper methods of collecting and transmitting specimens of water
and sewage for examination. A number of lectures and demonstrations
will be devoted to the chemical examination of water, to a discussion
of the fate of carbon and nitrogen, and to a consideration of
the value of chemical examinations in sanitary and epidemiologic investigation.
Bacteriology will be taught by Drs. Marshall and Meloy. After
a week spent in general technical training, the class will study
the bacteria of the air, water, and sewage, and will discuss the value
of such examinations, sources of error, etc. Biologic methods of
water and sewage purification will be observed. This will be followed
by a study of the bacteriology of typhoid fever, with special
reference to laboratory methods of diagnosis and serum reactions.
The basteriology of milk will be treated briefly and the remainder
of the time will be spent in learning the laboratory methods of making
the diagnosis in cases of diphtheria, tuberculosis, malaria, and
hook-worm disease.
Dr. Lambeth will devote fifteen periods to selected topics in
Hygiene, such as food, ventilation, heating and plumbing, and to the
subject of Vital Statistics.
In Medicine, Drs. Davis and Flippin will show at rounds any
hold six recitations upon the clinical methods of diagnosing selected
infectious diseases.
Epidemiology will be taught by members of the medical faculty
of the University and by visiting lecturers. In this course will
be considered diphtheria, small-pox, the insect carriers of disease,
typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and uncinariasis.
Lectures will be given also upon the practical workings and the
organization of Boards of Health. The names of the lecturers will
be announced later.
By an arrangement with the Summer School of the University,
students in hygiene may take advantage of the low rates for board
and lodging offered to students in the Summer School. (See pages
16 and 17 of the "Record.")
At the end of the term examinations will be conducted and successful
candidates will receive certificates stating the subjects in
which they have demonstrated proficiency.
Applicants may take the entire course, or so much of it as they
desire. No entrance examinations are required.
The fee for attending the whole course, or any part of it, is $25.00.
| The University of Virginia record April, 1909 | |