 | University of Virginia March, 1907 |  |
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 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.
| University of Virginia March, 1907 | |