 | University of Virginia |  |
OBSTETRICS.
Professor Buckmaster.
In Obstetrics the 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 Annex and
by attendance on patients in the out-patient obstetric service connected
with the Dispensary.
In this department it is the aim of the didactic teaching to enable
the student to classify his knowledge for examination and to learn the
relative importance of the subject matter. In no branch is the student
required to make earlier use of his knowledge and a text-book is
used that may afterwards serve as a book of reference.
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. A thorough knowledge of operative
procedure may be acquired by this means; for instance, the
application of the forceps, the packing of the puerperal uterus, the
delivery of the arms caught above the after-coming head, version,
and many other procedures. Cleansing of the hands forms a part of
the drill. In fact the student is required not only to describe but to
carry out the technique of the lying-in chamber. 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 the section has finished the manikin course it is taken into the
wards of the Annex where the methods of examination, particularly
abdominal palpation are practiced 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
for conducting a case. The large negro population in the neighborhood
of Charlottesville affords a class of patients which present all
the difficulties to clean work that are offered by ignorance and poverty.
No better practice can be had 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.
Text-Book.—The Practice of Obstetrics by American Authors. Lea Brothers
& Co.
| University of Virginia | |