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

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desolate hallway. of him i asked that time-honored question, how was the freshman year? the answer was so horrifying it was immediately repressed. freshman year i was one of 110 idealistic but bewildered members of the class of 1967 who descended on hahnemann for orientation in september, 1963. none of us will soon forget that re- splendent buffet dinner in our new nurses' residence, built to celebrate our arrival. it is a shame that other classes have not been similarly honored. the next day an unfamiliar person introduced as dean kellow arose and said, this is the best class hahnemann has ever assembled. we looked to our left and looked to our right and after four years are sur- prised to see the same faces looking back at us. was his old red book which was hahnemann's ansucr to modern physiology, implemented by an infinite- nnmlicr of national board type questions. as we left the freshman year. thc darlings of all depart- ments, little did we know that we would becoinc tht- scape- goats of the second year, proving that rclatiyity is still a viable concept. sophomore year the prophecy of the dean had been fulfilled as. almost without exception, the entire class returned, rested. en- thusiastic and relaxed after our conquest of the first yt-ar. little knowing that our latent paranoid tendencies would soon become rampant under the expert guidance of the pathology department. after all, if a test is a learning ex- fx -4 ' N.-H101 qu it was the first day of classes and as a horde of bright, shiny freshmen dashed up the front stairs they crashed into a locked and unyielding door. a kindly senior directed us to that imposing auxiliary entrance in the famous hahnemann alley. the next major obstacle confronting us was the double- barrelled anatomy department attack of asphyxiation by an all-pervasive odor and the machine gun fire technique of its most famous lecturer. biochemistry led us through cycles fkrebs Bt othersl and had our heads tuming with dr. de frates' surprise martinis, our empathy with dr. alexander and his cord problems was unanimous. physiology intro- duced us to anesthesiology as practiced on many unsuspecting dogs, cats, rabbits and other fauna while the department practiced it on us. the key to physiology was dr. scott who was once kind enough to grant diamond jim's request for an extra 2-3 minutes of lecture time. the key to dr. scott l'-Qs. 'Annan . 5 w. perience then a test-a-day should certainly educate the un- informed, pursuing the philosophy that if you give students enough tests they have no time in between them to learn anything new. obviously, the pathology department was not without humor, consider, for example, the Skelton outline of bone pathologyv. furthermore, the departments over- powering sense of humor was easily matched by its con- tinuous sympathy toward its many admiring subjects. it was. for instance, nice enough frequently to post long lists of names of those unfortunates whose knowledge of pathology was not equal to its high standards. all else about the second year must be dim in contrast to the brilliance of pathology. however, certain memories do flicker. no one could forget dr. moat's love for his subject as exemplified by his magnificent lab coat and his fine collec-

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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

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tion of slides. we will also always remember dr. dipalma as a distinguished guiding light. we finally reached the pinnacle of the first two years as national boards deluged us with approximately 5 million objective, nonsensical questions for which We had been so adequately prepared. with frayed nerves and shell-shocked emotions the class of 1967 staggered forward to its junior year, confident in the knowledge that we had been thoroughly prepared to treat disease. we were then rather startled to find out that the carriers of disease were people. junior year well, we struggled up the tall mountain of medicine and finally reached the zenith-the clinical years at hahnemann. we had been told repeatedly that this would be like pass- ing from night to day, but unfortunately it seemed more like a passing cloud. during the first days of orientation, the departments told us what to expect of the coming year: psychiatry would be an emotional experience, surgery would be retractable, pediatrics would be noisy, ob would be plain old ob and medicine would be king of the sci- encesf, in retrospect, this seems an excellent summation. psychiatry was an unexpectedly rewarding, although trau- matic, experience, the caliber of the teaching being almost universally superior. the first practical lesson we learned was that you can empathize, but not identify, with the pa- tient, even while playing pool together. however, the most important point, which soon became apparent, was that J,-s, . ,Sgr l 'M'-1Zl.'.1Qf.!..f:'? 'VR Cn 'M f K9 RE.Q.TB.L P5 if Q X L , J on . . 0 .I 0 .Z rip' 'j MCEDLF2 I. . fi C' t ,fl v V l 2 1 J .. , , ,.. . 5... ...,. - y E it every patient has his psychologic overtones and that no branch of medicine can be adequately practiced without taking this into account. unfortunately, this lesson does not seem to be universally applied. surgery suffered from a lack of organization which was the strongest point of psychiatry. however, it was a well- balanced athletic program inasmuch as fatigued upper ex- tremity muscles from long hours of retractor holding were only equalled by exhausted lower extremity muscles from endless rounds. one might hope that interspaced between retraction and rounds time could be found to teach the few basic points that surgery has to offer the non-surgical doctor. pediatrics was a mixture of sight, sound and smells requir- ing the utmost in patience and restraint. the teaching was a study in contrasts between the younger and older members of the department. it is of interest that some of hahnemann's better pediatricians are stationed elsewhere. however, the one lesson that will always be remembered from our pediatric affiliation is that one must always be prepared-with lollipopsl ob-gyn, unfortunately, is still ob-gyn, as was mentioned before. medicine was a high point of the junior year. the teaching was more than adequate in both quantity and quality both on a personal basis from the generally superior residents and on a more formal basis from the excellent conferences, especially ground rotmdsv and the renovascular service. renovascular, in addition, provided comic relief by way of hahnemann's favorite nephrologist who hopped on one foot into conference one day sucking a lollipop, obviously hav- ing learned the pediatrics lesson well. the experience with the medicine rotation most forcibly impresses on the student the feeling that he will share for the rest of his life with all other physicians, namely that his ceaseless attempt to