New Jersey College of Medicine - Journal Yearbook (Jersey City, NJ)

Page 16 text:

Senior year began as junior year had ended-in a furor over an administrative communique. It was a stirring tribute to our maturity and our efforts of the previous spring. In return for all of our academic holidays and a tidy sum we were to receive an occasional single holi- day, a mandatory health insurance plan and unlimited privileges at the student health office in jersey City, open five hours per week and featuring aspirin, nose drops and saline gargle. Once again we belied our intelligence and grossly misinterpreted, the message. This time we communicated via checkbook and the message got through. We thought. t 2 ' 1-iii? Communication at all levels reached its peak during the rank and recommendation battle. The majority and minority of the class communicated. Most knew the ranking system for what it was and therefore wanted an internship recommendation unrelated to it. Some few, having striven mightily for the gold star, still insisted on it. We voted and communicated the result to Dr. Kahn. The assistant dean communicated with the dean. Three weeks later Dr. Rawson asked us what system of recom- mendation we preferred. In the winter of our discontent we applied for intern- ships without a directory and sought electives without direction. Everyone eventually received a directory. But some people's directions for electives were diilerent -so were their electives. Thus we went our separate ways. just being divided into small groups prevented any real cohesiveness and there was no one concept worthy of class loyalty. We rotated through our clerk- ships, keeping sane with laughter.

Page 15 text:

IQ. . I .,- , . 1' d ,ff , . ni. The harbinger of spring arrived in the form of an administrative communique. The Class of 1969 was to have the honor of mandatorily sitting for Part III of the National Boards and thereby providing additional ma- terial for internship recommendations. Indeed, we were singularly honored. The examination was not mandatory in other medical colleges. Dr. Kahn showed us we had grossly misinterpreted, the entire letter and promptly cancelled the exam. just as promptly we professed our faith and agreed to take it. The class that had brought up the rear on Part I ranked fifteenth in the nation on Part III. Everyone who had been embarassed by our perform- ance on Part I now stood to take a bow for our perform- ance on Part III. With the successful resolution of the National Boards conflict inspiring us, we confronted the departments of medicine and surgery with the possibility of boycotting finals. Visions of Columbia danced in administrative heads. Dr. Leevy had dialogue with us and Dr. Lazaro demonstrated the virtue of patience. We showed our seriousness of purpose by taking finals in medicine, surgery and preventive medicine. Thus the year ended with more and more people talking less and less to fewer and fewer other people. Our whites were well-wrinkled, gray and tight in some very uncomfortable places. 'll

Page 17 text:

Between C-sections we made eight deliveries in four hours and watched the sunrise. We waded through the sea of faces, the tired deodorant and flood of discharge to await a P.I.D. at two in the morning. The smell of stale urine and old pablum filled the nostrils of those privileged to serve as acting juniors. Terror filled the hearts of those privileged to serve with Dr. Mehrfar. Surgery provided provocation, suffocation, frustration, and devastation. Psychiatry provided vacation . . . and coffee in Mellaril cups and a respite from the carnage of the Pit We sutured and translated, sutured and with- stood the insults and sutured while Newark's finest handcuffed Dr. Seipel. Town-gown communication. The quality of the medical clerkship depended upon where it was spent-and with whom. Serial dilutions for urobilinogen and zebra hunts with Bwana Ellros luckily were offset by good contact with acute medicine and total patient responsibility. I .:f,-' - 3 1,1 ,,, U Y X X ' T' 1 'f ' Q rr' X , ' 4 ' 1 ' f - 'Al i , l Y S'j'?:r,.-N Y 'Y-G , . rs , elim sg N Tv 12 ' ' ' Ngl ffgf . A Vg bp ., , JJ ' V We looked down from a window on Ten South to the future NICM rising temporarily below. We gazed on those baby blue buildings, reflected on the past and speculated on the future. We had repressed the years in Jersey City and waded the mire of frustration in Newark. We had reached the end of the beginning.