Drexel University College of Medicine - Medic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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president to the class of 1967 let me extend to each of you my sincere congratulations on the occasion of your graduation as a doctor of medicine, and my warm wishes that you will achieve Whatever you hold as your goal. it is difficult to speak of goals without reverting to oacca- laureate idiom. yet, at the expense of doing so, i would observe that you leave your formal educational experience at a remarkably important time-possibly a turning point in medical history. from the beginning, medicine has pursued a rather insular course-insular in the sense that its own practitioners large- ly determined its character, its direction, and its pace of progress. today, disciplines until recently ignored or rejected as unrelated to medicine are now tremendous fac- tors in shaping the corpus of medicine, whether we like it or not. and the great question which confronts you is how will, you accommodate them in your particular orbit. with one you are well acquainted-the involvement of phys- ical science and its arborizing sub-sciences with biology, an involvement of which we are experiencing mere rustlings of the great winds of change ahead. what do you su pose will the developments of the next thirtv Years, uring which you will practice, do to the personal. ethical. and moral relationships which vou now visualize regarding physician and patient? specifically, will increasing technol- ogy mean impersonalization? in the other, you are about to be indoctrinated or. as some would have it, immersed or even engulfed. i am referring to the elaborate spectacle of social medicine. these two developments, recent in terms of their dimen- sions, are certain to have immense impact on how medicine is practiced. and they share the risk. if not the outright likelihood, of de-humanizing in some degree what was regarded by everyone as a uniquely personal. empath- ic relationship-that between the doctor and his patient. whatever and however great the changes wrought in the milieu of medical practice by scientific and governmental forces, i earnestly hope that you will each stand strong in the resolve not to let graphs and milligrams percent nor welfare forms and certihcations of eligibility come between you and your patient. give him the full measure of your warmth and understanding and support. to do so has been called the doctor's priestly function and this had best not change. charles s. cameron, m.d. president ' 3 I

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' 4 5 Ji your future challenges confgratulationsl you have successfully completed your me ical school education. you will now enter the next phase of your career with the ability to meet future challenges. these include: self-directed learningi provision of effective leadershi in the delivery of healt care, and evaluating policies ofporganized medicine. your medical school experience has provided you with an opportunity for growth toward self-reliance. i now urge you to continue your self-directed study and display curios- ity and critical thinking in your work. do not recreate and maintain the assive, teachers-directed study. you should avoid the pitfrall of uncritically assimilating the material someone else thinks important. this is a strategy which may have worked in the past, when the immediate aim was a successful performance on an examination, but it will not work in the future. for your educational growth, the critical element will be the quality of your inquiry. as in education and industry, team work is mandatory to the organization of the modern practice of medicine. in medical school, the emphasis was on the performance of purely professional tasks. now that you have sufficiently progressed in your career, you will need to be aware of your role as leader of the team providing total care to the patient. the idea of self sufficient independence ought to assistant dean be discarded. the many challenges presented by the pa- tient cannot be met by any one physician, no matter how well trained for optimal care, it is essential that the hysi- cian coordinate his efforts with those of allied ffealth personnel such as social workers, physical therapists and rehabilitationls experts. therefore, if you are to maintain your leadershi in the field of health care, you must accept this responsibility. to be effective in your profession and cope with the rising expectations of society, you will need to resist the forces that demand your alliance on faith alone. educational, scientific, and social changes of the past fifty ears have resulted in the goal of health-protection regarrfless of the individual's ability to pay. new programs are, therefore, needed. if the profession does not take initiative for plan- ning and implementation of changes, it will be assumed by forcesaless well equipped. to continue resisting changes without good reasons will result in increasing assumption of responsibility by federal and state governments. it is clear that these challenges are great. but you can look forward confidently if you apply yourselves by drawing on the strengths of the past and imaginatively using your po- tential. joseph s. Cgonnella, m.d., assistant ean

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introduction recollections of a medical student medical school interview i can remember well my admission interview at hahne- mann. dressed to impress and besieged by multiple flitting butterflies i sallied forth from the security of my sheltered, uncomplicated world to meet the great unknown. the first great obstacle to admission to medical school was in find- ing the door, which required all the skills of my premedi- cal training. having circled the same collection of old build- ings three or four times i was finally faced with the realization that this could possibly be it. walking up the steps, trodden by so many of the faithful, as evidenced by their concavity, i soon realized that the antique exterior was only a cover- ing for a not-so-plush interior. after being misled by three or four confused but friendly people, i finally stag- gered up to the attractive secretary who directed me to my interviewer. after several frantic telephone calls dr. x finally decided that he was supposed to interview me on that foreboding day. then came that oft-repeated question, for which by now i was thoroughly prepared: my boy, why do you want to be a doctor, anyway?,, a half hour later, with a feeling of confidence gained from the thorough snowing of dr. x., we turned from my future plans to those of the institution, a half hour thereafter i was fully as- sured that, with hahnemann in the throes of a massive con- struction program, by graduation i would be a member of a medical team rivaled only by that well-known institution in boston. as i made my exit through those same sacred, antique doors i was weighed down by those obsessive- compulsive doubts characteristic of all pre-medical students. the summer before having finally received that long awaited letter of accep- tance, i passed many golden months disturbed only by the complete lack of communication from my school. however, doubts as to whether my name had really been lost in that typical hahnemann bureaucracy were precipitously dis- pelled by the arrival of an important communication to the effect that since medical students were not paying their fair share, tuition had been increased by 8200, perfectly within the guidelines of a national anti-inflationary program. With monetary considerations jolting me back to reality i now turned to practical matters. feeling confident, since i was armed with a letter from the dean stating that he would be of aid and assistance concerning problems of housing and other related matters i again journeyed forth to philadelphia. the city of brotherly love, hot and sticky as usual, to my sur- prise and consternation did not seem to possess a dean or any other helpful soul. all was not bleak, however, since one stray, seemingly lost, sophomore was encountered in the