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

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.

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 18 text:

'7 ma, .azbfrng , ,.,,. . lease: 5: 5135 'Y PROLQGUE An institution and the individuals who enter it com- municate, interact, and in so doing produce history. Usually the institution, with its traditions and estab- lished policies molds the individual into a different person from what he was before he entered. In the case of a medical student he should be more knowledgeable, more observant, and more compassionate. This yearbook is an account of the interaction between the Class of 1969 and its institution. It is the story of our communica- tion with the established community of medical practi- tioners whose chosen profession was to help us achieve the knowledge and personal attributes necessary to establish the good doctor-patient relationship. Most yearbooks exist to elicit nostalgia in old grads. The aim of JOURNAL 1969 is to provide memories, certainly, but memories to remind us of our professional and personal responsibilities to communicate honestly and directly and to work toward the high level of communication as necessary to all civilized life as it is to the doctor-patient relationship.