American College of Surgeons - Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Requirements for Admission to Fellowship ii accepted as a medical officer in the service of his respective country. 2. To be eligible for Fellowship without technical examination the candidate shall be a graduate of a medical school approved by the American College of Surgeons. If the candidate ' s school of graduation is not accredited by the American College of Surgeons, he may be required to pass a technical examination in one or all subjects of the medical curriculum. 3. The candidate shall give evidence that he has served at least one year as an interne in a creditable hospital and two years as a surgical assistant, or he shall give evidence of an apprenticeship of equivalent value. Five to eight years after graduation in med- icine, devoted to special training and to practice, are normally the time-requirement for eligibility to Fellowship. Due impor- tance is attached to laboratory and research work. 4. The moral and ethical fitness of the candidate shall be deter- mined by the reports of surgeons whose names are submitted by the candidate himself, and by such other reports and data as the Creden- tials Committee and the administration of the College may obtain. 5. The professional activity of the candidate shall be limited to the study, diagnosis, and operative work in general surgery or in special fields of surgery, such as eye, ear, nose and throat, genito- urinary, orthopedics, and gynecology and obstetrics, as follows: First, if the candidate resides in a city of less than fifty thousand inhabitants, at least fifty per cent of his professional activity shall be limited to the practice of general surgery, or to practice within the special fields of surgery as stated. Second, in cities of over fifty thousand inhabitants, at least eighty per cent of the profes- sional activity of the candidate shall be limited to the practice of general surgery, or to practice within special fields of surgery. In other words, the College desires to admit to its Fellowship only those who are primarily specialists in surgery, and the minimum proportion of specialization which is acceptable may vary accord- ing to the size of t he city in which the candidate resides. 6. The candidate shall make formal application for Fellow- ship. Blank forms for this purpose may be had, upon request, from the General Secretary of the College. 7. In making application for Fellowship the candidate shall sign a declaration which reads as follows, — I hereby promise upon my honor as a gentleman that I will

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lo American College of Surgeons COMMITTEES ON STANDARDS In order that the College might make definite beginning toward the fulfilment of the recommendations of the General Secretary, the following resolutions, which are self-explanatory, were unan- imously approved by the Fellows, — Be it Resolved, First, that the Fellows of the College respect- fully authorize and instruct the Regents of the College to select in each state of the United States and in each province of Canada, subject to the approval of the Fellows of the respective states and provinces, a committeeman at large to serve for a period of three years. Second, that the committee thus created shall be known as the International Committee on Standards of the American College of Surgeons; that it shall meet at least once in each year to consider ways and means to create (a) supplementary and graduate train- ing for surgeons; (b) legislative enactment and other means to prevent dishonest practices; and (c) enactment of laws that will protect the public against untrained surgeons. Be it Resolved, First, that the Fellows of the College respect- fully request the Regents to hold an election of the Fellows in each state of the United States and in each province of Canada for the purpose of selecting two committeemen for each one million popula- tion or fraction thereof within the respective states and provinces. Second, that the committees thus created be known as State or Provincial Committees on Standards of the American College of Surgeons. Third, that the committeeman of the International Committee on Standards shall serve as the Chairman of his re- spective State or Provincial Committee on Standards. Fourth, that the purposes of this committee are to create co-operation among medical societies, medical schools, hospitals, and in the general public toward an active program for the fulfilment of the recom- mendations of the International Committee on Standards. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO FELLOWSHIP In Bulletin No. i the requirements for admission to Fellowship are published in full detail. Briefly stated, these requirements are as follows, — I. The candidate shall be a graduate of medicine, licensed to practice medicine in his respective state or province, or

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12 American College oj Surgeons not, so long as I am a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, practice division of fees in any form; neither by collecting fees for others referring patients to me; nor by permitting them to collect my fees for me; nor will I make joint fees with physicians or surgeons referring patients to me for operation or consultation; neither will I in any way, directly or indirectly, compensate any one referring patients to me; nor will I utilize any man as an assistant as a sub- terfuge for this purpose. 8. The Regents of the College reserve the right to alter, from time to time, regulations respecting the admission of Fellows to the College as they may think proper. 9. As evidence of his qualifications in the art and technique of surgery, the candidate is requested to submit the histories or records of fifty consecutive major operations performed by himself after the date of application for Fellowship. The College has prepared a series of history-forms which in- dicate, in a general manner, first, the data desired in so far as they are applicable to each case, and, second, the form within reason- able limits in which these data should be submitted. These forms are given in Bulletin No. i. The College does not supply them for actual record-keeping. They are there given in the hope that they will serve as helpful suggestions for the better keeping of records, and that they will make more evident the nature of the records desired from candidates for Fellowship. Each surgeon should, for obvious reasons, possess various history-forms which are not only adequate but also adapted to his work. On such forms he should have accurately recorded the essential data in connection with each case, such as the family history of the patient; the operative record with the pre-operative diagnosis complete; post-operative history and end-results; significant details of all analyses made in connec- tion with the original diagnosis or with later complications; and details of the physical examination. These are, in general, the data requested in each of the fifty major operations. The principles of record-keeping are the same for all work in surgery. The variations in the forms, as they may be adapted to the specialties of surgery, are variations chiefly of detail. The orginal hospital records, it is assumed, may, upon request, be reviewed for verification with the records submitted. The name of the patient, however, need not be given in any record. The hospital number of each case should be given.