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

Page 36 text:

Senior year on surgery began with great expectations and a full nine week schedule. We still had our lectures, now on Wednesday afternoons, Saturday mornings, and, for the brave, eight-thirty every weekday morning. On the floors, we found that the juniors were not to be seen, or if seen, were not to be worked. This meant more procedures for us, but also more admissions, and of course, more scut. Surprise! Rounds suddenly began at seven-thirty A.M. -the powers-that-be decided. This meant medical students were in by seven o'clock to exsanguinate, do the gastric analyses, and paste the lab sheets in the charts. Learning experiences they called them, slave labor We said, and Tony Minnefordid not care as long as he could get to peds', rounds by eleven. Two weeks were spent at the Pollak Hospital where thoracic surgery was performed. Although only in its em- bryonic stages of development, and not as profitable as hoped, the void was partially filled by the presence of Dr. Timmes, an excellent speaker, teacher, and gentleman. Some time was also allotted to pediatric surgery and anaesthesiology. Dr. Morrow directed the former with the help of Dr. Chafizadeh, but the use of Fluothane and endo- tracheal tubes will forever remain a mystery to our untrained minds! Attendings were an intricate part of Ward surgery. Dr. Nunes was recognized for his well organized talks, Dr. Baber as the star of the portal vein pressure picturesg and Dr. Costello as our ideal picture of the LMD. These small glimpses of life in the outside world were very encouraging to those of us who became interested in the specialty, and anticipated at least five more years in the harness.

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lu .il ' V.-vt All was not lecture, however, for although there were only three weeks devoted to ward surgery, we were introduced to, and excited by, the opportunity to scrubv. It was not long before we discovered why the famous instrument of Richardson was known, in the vernacular, as an idiot stick , and that no matter what length one clipped the sutures, they were always either too long or too short. Although many hours were spent behind the white mask, we also admitted patients and tried our hand at passing Levin tubes. As hernia followed hernia and gallbladder followed gallbladder, Dr. Moderessi began to follow Kathy DiCioccio and Dr. Banerjee began to follow Barbara Glista. Tiring of this, we moved on to the surgical clinics, but were greeted by more monotony. This time removing stitches and dilating urethral strictures until we almost longed once more for the lecture hall, even if it did mean hearing about gastric ulcers for the fourth time! l i. 'z F ,P .FMQG ' ' 1 Dr. A. Roy Morrow Dr. William I. Tevlin Dr. John Knightly Dr. Eric Lazaro I. 1 r . ffl gpg rr 4 X u--9' B Au r 'l W , it sl 3. F Mis' FI? 1: if i, 'Eu 1 34 ' '3JGIf l:A:'r' F' 115, ' xl , it H , r .y t MW! 3, 5 K ' A 4 ' 71151, lL it - f ' ' .lm 'r 1 'tr

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-!?f. The most enjoyable time spent on surgery was the two weeks allotted to Dr. Blasi's emergency room. From three to nine every night we satisfied our egos that we were vital in the care of the sick of Jersey City. Needle holder in one hand, thumb forceps in the other, we sutured a scalp here, removed a splinter there, and then with a splash of mer- cresin and a wad of gauze pad, sent the whole man back to society. These vigorous endeavors were watched over by Drs. Abad and Ershadi, who, between reading negative skull x-rays and quieting the anxious GYN cases, managed to teach us the essentials of minor surgery. There was, how- ever, no greater teacher of emergency care than the path- ology that presented itself to our hospital on a Saturday night. If one must truly learn by seeing and doing, this is the place that produces the experts. Not everyone could get on Dr. T evlin's floor to hear his excellent talks and well conducted rounds. However, this was soon well compensated for by our full time professors. Dr. Knightly came across the river by way of Memorial to puff his pipe and drop pearls, and Dr. Lazaro was detoured through India before he finally landed in Jersey City. A late arrival perhaps, but his Wit and humor were only out- done in enthusiastic reception by his ability to simplify difficult subjects and make the house staff squirm at prob- lem conferences. By the end of the rotation we did not feel as though we could yet do an abdorninoperineal, but found that scrub- bing with Dr. Critides no longer fazed us, and no matter how fast Dr. Miranti recited the intrinsic muscles of the hand, we still could not remember them. 41 ul .....-. .XR 1 f I-Zgx. f ,E N l X . Q,,,L I N afrieaua One more break in sterile technique and 1'll report you to the Immigration Office!