Rush Medical College - Pulse Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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.MK . .MK . vue..- .MK - .aes . be linic . i'99'i3'ii'i'i FTER the medical student has completed his elementary and labo- ratory work, he is introduced to disease at the bedside of the patientfthe clinic. A clinic means instruction given at the bedside, or in our more modern methods, means the study ot disease as illustrated by cases in the amphitheatre. The value of clinical instruction can hardly be exag- gerated. It far overshadows didactic lectures, and in some institutions has entirely supplanted them. At Rush the value of limited didactic work is still recognized. It affords the instructor an opportunity of giving a syllabus of his subject: but clinical work is given the more prominent position. Lasting impressions of great value to the young graduate are photographed ou his mind at the clinic. ' It is at the clinic that he sees and learns to interpret the gait of locomotor ataxia, the gestures of chorea, the cachexia of carcinoma, the deformity of Colles' fracture, the emphysematous chest with its labored breathing, the pallor of chlorosis, the puffy eyelid of the nephritic. It is in the clinic that he sees practiced the art of medicine, the exhaustive cross-examination of the patient, the searching investigation, the judicial diagnosis, the scientific treatment, the skilled handling of instruments. The clinic is the stage upon which he sees performed the part which he hopes to play in his life's work. The importance of a medical school can be best judged by its clinics. At Rush the amount of clinical material atyforded by the Central Free Dispensary, by the Presby- terian Hospital and by the college clinics is greater than can be utilized. The largest surgical clinic in the world, both in point of attendance and number of cases operated upon, can be seen at Rush. The immediate connec- tion with the Presbyterian Hospital makes it possible to present all classes of cases in the large amphitheatre of the college, which has a seating capacity of five hundred. The gynecological clinics, the medical clinics, and clinics in special branches-eye and ear, chest and throat, skin and venereal, and diseases of childrenfafford unsurpassed opportunities for the study of disease both to the student and post-graduate. The PULSE presents this year photographs of the clinics of Professors Senn, Etheridge, Bridge and Hamilton. 43

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llbr ft Semis Surgical linic fl, A Q HE clinic conducted on Tuesday afternoon from two to Z g ?OL11-,l and upon.Thuisday fiom two to six, is the gieatest surgical clinic 1ii the woild. 1 .5 Its preeminence lies, first, in Dr. Senn as an accu- . rate diagnostician and conscientious though brilliant operator: second, in Professor Senn as a profound Xdvp scholar, a careful pathologist, an enthusiastic and orig- Cff inal investigator and voluminous author: third, in his power not only of comprehending the whole realm of medicine and surgery, and of retaining it at his instant command, but of possessing a practical insight into the wants of students, and the ability to drive home the essentials with a rare forcefulness of manner and directness and Huency of speech: fourth, the superiority of the clinic is also dependent upon the great amount and variety of its clinical material, with every attendant advantage of one of the best of modern hospitals and a large supply of out-patients. Few are the surgical lesions, even of rare interest, that are not exhibited from this inexhaustible clinical reservoir. The excellence of the clinic is much enhanced by the efficiency of the corps of assistant physicians and nurses, who perform their several duties with precision. The preparation and aseptic manipulation of sponges, drainage tubes and other paraphernalia: the very admirable handling and care of all instrumentsg all these procedures move like clock-worlc, the mainspring and regulator of which are in one individual at the center of activity. Cleanliness, in the strict modern sense, the watchword in this arena, is a lesson never to be forgotten by those who observe the method by which it is attained, and the clinical results which are its just reward. The first hour is usually devoted to the presentation of the patients operated upon during the previous week or so. This is a most valuable sequel to the preceding clinic, and is a practical demonstration of results. The so-called consulting staff of students, appointed from the senior class to exhibit certain patients before the class, is at first thought to be sincerely pitied, as its members pass one by one under the combined gaze of some fourteen hundred eyes and the Ere of Dr. 5enn's rigid cross-examination: but the immense opportunity which it affords the Professor of impressing important facts is only equaled by the certainty that no student who has undergone the ordeal will ever forget the points brought out. Finally, a feature worthy of special mention is the running description, precise and deliberate, of every step in each operation, be it ever so intricate or serious. Though there is ample opportunity to see what is done, one has only to listen and to jot down the many practical points in pathology, diag- nosis, prognosis or operative procedure which are the fruit of indefatigable labor, long experience and mature thought. DR. A. M. Conwix. 45