Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine - Caduceus Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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The History of Loyola-Stritch by Mathew Nora Loyola University was born in 1870 under the name of St. Ignatius College. By 1909 the enrollment at the school had declined, mainly because it was better known for its very successful college preparatory school, rather than as a college itself. So in this same year, St. Ignatius College followed the example of other Jesuit schools and expanded itself into a University. The school changed its name to Loyola University and moved to a new location on Chicago's north side. St. Ignatius Preparatory School re- mained at the old location to help maintain stability in the neighborhood, and continues to educate high school students today, at the original site of Loyola University. At the same time that the school upgraded itself to a university in hopes of attracting more collegiate students, the administrators also decided to begin a department of medicine. Bringing this change about was particularly challeng- ing, accomplished primarily by Rev. H. Spalding, S.J. the first regent of the school. The difficulties he faced in founding a medical school are best understood in light of the state medical education was in at the turn of the century. In 1909, medical education in Chicago was in flux in an attempt to correct some of the deficiencies of the late 1800's. Medical training in 1870 consisted of two school years, each lasting 20 weeks. The second year was largely a repeat of the first year. The majority of schools had no clinical curriculum, and requirements for en- trance varied greatly. Most did not even require four years of high school. Without any standardization of entrance requirements, curriculum, or facilities, the medical schools of Chicago represented a spectrum of quality. Some of the lesser schools were run strictly for profit, and were considered diploma mills. These were referred to as commercial schools, and were staffed by faculty who wanted the prestige and increased patient population which came to teaching physicians. Any group of physicians could easily create a medi- 8 History of Stritch cal school with minimal investment of time or money. One medical school was even operated out of a converted barn. In 1904 there were 15 day-schools in Chicago. There were also numerous night and correspondence medical schools. In addition to these, there existed irregular schools which includ- ed homeopathic, osteopathic, chiropodic and eclectic schools of medicine. All these schools could legally send gradu- ates out to practice medicine without any standard minimum qualifications. The number of medical schools oscillat- ed greatly, many existing for only a few years. The value of a medical diploma at this time might be appreciated from the following letter received by Rush Medi- cal College in 1910: Please accept of My hand writting though Ihavht been in touch with you as to write you before. But at this time I write you for a Diploma of being a family Doctor. I have purchased a family Medical Book from Sears Roebuck and I have studied it for two l2l years and I have been Examined by Doctor-and I Desires to Give Rush Medical College Honor of what I know, and that is why I asked for a Diploma from that College. I have been teaching for twelve 1121 years and I believe I am Prepaired to do the work. I will give you One Dollar and a half 081.502 for the Diploma ifyou will Except of M yreq uest Please let Me hear from you by return Mail. On the other hand, there did exist a minority of medical schools which were genuinely dedicated to improving the quality of medicine and physicians in Chicago. Dr. Nathan Davis, the founder of Chicago Medical College Clater to become Northwestern University Medi- cal Schooll was a leader of this move- ment to improve medical education in Chicago. He fought for minimum en- trance requirements: a high school de- gree and at least one year of college. He also felt that the school year should be extended from 20 weeks to six months, and that the length of studies should be increased from two to three years. He wanted to require that the curriculum include didactic teaching in the basic sciences, as well as clinical training. Dr. Davis also recommended that tuition for medical school be eliminated because the majority of students in Chicago were from poor midwest farming families. These recommendations were not Well received. This was because there were so many medical schools in the area that any given school feared that an increase in its entrance requirements might drive students away to the competition. In 1904 Dr. Davis' recommenda- tions received support when the AMA-- which happened to have been founded by Dr. Davis himself--created the coun- cil on medical education.This council eventually became the most powerful regulator of medical education in the country. The committee wanted medical schools to be graded as A, B, or C with CU schools being considered unsatisfac- tory. In order to have these evaluations considered objective, the committee requested the Carnegie foundation to perform these evaluations in 1910. The report, written by A. Flexnor, was devas- tating to Chicago area medical schools, describing the city as the plague spot of the country. The report stated that only three medical schools in Illinois should be allowed to remain open: Rush, North- western and College of Physicians and Surgeons Clater Univ. of Illinois Medical Schooll. These were the only three class A medical schools in Illinois. In light of the Flexnor report, the AMA felt that to improve medical education in Chicago the number of medical schools must be reduced. Although many of the claims of the Flexnor report were exaggerated, the report did help raise the standards of medical education in the city. In the next 15 years medical schools began to -require two years of college preparation, and a compulsory intern- ship before being licensed to practice. The report also put pressure on medical schools to affiliate with universities. This was beneficial to both parties, as it offered a given medical school the pres- tige of a university on its diploma, and

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It was an exceptional classmate who did not gain personal insight into emotional stress. students on the service could kiss up to the attendings beyond human belief, stealing answers to questions directed to someone else, showing the others up at every opportunity. There were times when, out of the corner of your eye, you'd notice how another student examined the patient in the bed adjacent to your own patientg or when you'd come on service picking up a patient who had been followed by another student. In times like these, the respect we held for one another either increased or diminished, but in either case, we were seeing- and showing-our true colors. However, when that train-wreck admission comes to you at 4:15 on Friday when another student is on call, and that student takes the case for you-a certain bond is formed which can never be completely broken. It was during the clerkships that those empty facts we'd spent so much time memorizing in the first two years took on their true significance. Cystic Fibrosis was no longer a two-and-a-half- page coop with a few sentences marked yellow somewhere in your pathology notebook. It was the murderer of the child you had grown so attached to in Pediatrics. And who among us did not shudder when the reality of lymphoma was driven home? Among the most important learning we ac- complished on the floors were the endless lessons we'd been taught about ourselves. We were forced to come in intimate touch with our own weaknesses and limitations, as we were reminded of them daily and forced to pay for them. We learned-after all we spewed about ourselves in those med school applications-how we really feel about sick people. We developed a strong sense of pride in looking back over our many venerable accomplishments. In doing so, we learned also that our limitations could be improved, some even eliminated. Failures at first, we developed by sink or swim method, skills in efficiency, time-management, decision-making, triage, and simple self-defense. Even the coldest and most distant class member did not get through this alone. We were there for each other when things were rough, during marital turmoil, deaths of family, roommate problems, unsuccessful pregnancy, depression. We shared the excitement of engagements, marriages, the birth of a child, Match Day. We experienced each other in almost any imaginable circumstance! We felt each other fail. We watched each other succeed. We saw each other in boxer shorts and three-piece suits, in scrubs post-call and in bars post-boards, there was St. Lucia, white-water rafting, AMSA trips to Colorado, endless dinners at each other's homes. In short, we learned a hell of a lot more in medical school than appears in National Medical Board Exams. And perhaps the most special things we grew to know were ourselves, and each other. We came together as a group of medical students for the first time in Anatomy class where we were introduced not only to such things as the brachial plexus, but to each other. After four years in which our experiences have woven us into an intimate network of complex relationships, we leave together as a group of physicians. At graduation, we become doctors for the first time. A plexus is an intricately interwoven, complex network. . . But it was during those four years together that we began to become doctors. lt is to the memory of this beginning, now at an end, that we dedicate this Plexus 1986. Opening 7

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gave the university a ready-made medi- cal department. The AMA encouraged this consolidation in hopes that the universities would improve the quality of teaching at their medical school. Ironically, at the very time when the Flexnor report was having medical schools closed, Loyola was attempting to establish its own medical department. So there was little sympathy, even hostility, towards its organization. Actually, Loyo- la was one of the first medical schools to follow the recommendations of the Flex- nor report. They raised their admission standards, offered more formal training in the basic sciences, and updated their facilities beyond the levels of some of the more established schools in Chicago. These efforts were ignored by the AMA. In fact the AMA eventually tried to have Loyola closed through subversive means as described below. Loyola administrators, in the prof cess of upgrading the school to a Univer- sity, decided to affiliate with Illinois Medical College KIMCJ in 1909. This, in effect, added a medical department to the school for the first time. Fr. Spalding, who had been a former regent of Mar- quette Medical School, was called upon to develop Loyola's medical school. IMC had been founded in 1894. It was housed in a three story building initially con- structed to be a hotel. Associated with IMC was Reliance Medical College. This was an evening medical school founded in 1907 which used the same faculty and building of IMC. Reliance was also incorporated into Loyola's medical de- partment. Fr. Spalding was approached in 1910 by the Bennett Medical School iBMSJ which was also interested in affiliating with Loyola University. By March of the same year, details had been worked out such that BMS bought out Reliance and IMC, thus becoming Loyo- la's medical depart.ment. BMS had been founded in 1868 as an eclectic school of medicine. The BMS hospital had to be closed to accommodate the new student body of 400 which resulted from the incorporation of the other two schools. The first graduating class in June of 1910 consisted of 62 graduates. 41 from Bennett and 21 from IMC. The students at this time did their clinical rotations at Jefferson Park Hospital which had a 90 bed capacity. f. inf 'gffi .Z Kal! . 44 I ,ff K 1 if Ill . In E ,iwif 1 if-.l Clockwise from top left: Illinois Medical College, Bennett College of Medicine and Surgery. Please see text for details. Medical School, Loyola Medical School circa 1930, and Chicago , . History of Strltch 9