University of Virginia Library

CLINICAL INSTRUCTION.

           

Dr. BARRINGER,	Mr. BELL,
Dr. BUCKMASTER,	Mr. BARFIELD,
Dr. NELSON,	Mr. ROYSTER,
Dr. MAGRUDER,	Mr. HENEBERGER,
Dr. RANDOLPH,	Mr. ROBERTS,
Dr. RUSSELL,	Mr. PAGE.

The opportunities for clinical instruction at the University
have within the last few years been very greatly
increased. The erection and equipment of the University
Dispensary and the careful consideration of the needs of
the community in this respect have built up an out-patient
department vastly in excess of the apparent possibilities of
the city; moreover, this material is utilized for purposes of
instruction to a much greater extent than is usually done
in clinical teaching. The amphitheatre is so arranged that

no student is over fifteen feet from the clinical chair or
operating table (as the case may be), and each can thus
understand and appreciate all that is shown him. For the
purpose of still more definite instruction, the whole class is
called up in successive small sections to examine special
cases and conditions, the students being questioned later
on the knowledge so obtained. There is a daily clinic at
the Dispensary, in each case occupying the entire afternoon,
distributed through the week as follows:

           

Monday,	Dr. Buckmaster,	Medical.
Tuesday,	Dr. Nelson,	Surgical.
Wednesday,	Dr. Buckmaster,	Medical.
Thursday,	Dr. Magruder,	Physical Diagnosis.
Friday,	Dr. Barringer,	Ophthalmic.
Saturday,	Dr. Randolph,	Genito-urinary.

During the past year nearly three thousand distinct
cases were treated before the students at the clinical lectures.
Of these, about six hundred each were medical,
surgical or eye and ear cases, some five hundred were gynecological
cases, and over four hundred were cases of genito-urinary
disease. In addition to the work at the Dispensary,
the class have seen in sections numerous important surgical
operations outside under the care of the clinical teachers,
and a large number of the class have been in a similar
manner brought into intimate contact with cases of serious
illness of various kinds. In obstetrical work, about fifty
per cent. of the class have been able to see at least one case
each, while some members have had as many as eight or
nine cases: it is believed that more systematic arrangements
can now be made, and that in the future each
member of the class can have one or more cases during the
session.

There are appointed each year from among the best
students of the senior class in medicine a limited number
of young men to serve as clinical assistants at the Dispensary.
While there is no pecuniary emolument connected
with these positions, they afford exceptional opportunities
for the acquisition of valuable practical knowledge.