University of Virginia School of Medicine - Biopsy Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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up under the physical strain, and if he can still pass his course vvorlc, he may some day be a doctor. The Department of Surgery demands all ol the varied talents implied in the loregoing analysis ancl, in addition, requires that the student develop a vivid pictorial imagination and great powers ol concentration. Here the student must be able to loolc over Cand to overloolcl the Hderrieren ol the nurse standing in front of him and to see in Resident can countermand orders writ- ten by the intern. propelled by coffee and coca-cola, and guided by his sense of diplomatro- pism, the student passes through the stages ol confusion, infusion and fusion to emerge with that suffix, M.D.i' his mind's eye the events talcing place upon the anatomy of the unseen patient. And if he doesn't even get into the operating room he must talce com- fort in the lcnovvledge that his white count and urinalysis guided the hand of the surgeon even though they may not have gotten on the chart until a day later. On either service, the student must be a dip- lomat and master of protocol. The chain of com- mand must be observed in all cases, but this is not always a handicap lor, after all, the Assistant . l A .. Ml!

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During his First weel4 on medicine, the student undergoes a strange metamorphosis while in a state oi suspended animation as iar as mentation is con- cerned. During this week he is transiormecl into a creature oi strange and varied parts and his future success as a practitioner depends on whether he is able flaterj to fuse the parts into a functioning whole. What are these parts which represent our student on the ward'?U l-le is a cleric of the old school who scratches out pages and pages oi longhand negative Findings or history. l-le is a vampire who talces the patient's blood for reasons unl4nown to the patient, doubted by the student and sometimes not too clearly under- stood by the Assistant Resident. l'le is also an MEDICINE AND SURGERY l'lE student who completes his second year ieels that he is a bit of a success and loolcs forward to worlc on the wards as an opportunity to apply the principles of medicine to real live patients. Ah! Little does he lcnow what is in store for him. accomplished laboratory technician and analyst whose ability to turn out volumi- nous and reliable worlc is limited only by his lacl4 of a third hand, the absence in North 3 Lab. oi the necessary chemicals, and the inviting proximity of the yawning laboratory sinlc. li, in addition to these, the student can keep his sense oi humor and his ability to thinlc, if he can stand

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