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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OPD HE several hundred patients who crowd into the outpatient department ol the University of Virginia Hospital every day come because they are ill and wish to be cured. The titty third and fourth year stu- dents vvho straggle into the same clinics every day come because they are engaged in the understandably difficult taslc of trans- lating memorized textbook material into living, suffering, often complaining, human beings in need of help. To the student, the OPD patient repre- sents his First contact with the human interest cross-vvorcl puzzle, whose complaints and physical Findings must be put together to form the logical story learned in the texts. To the patient, the students are just more of those vvhite-jaclmetecl inquisitors who will eventually resolve their aches and pains. And to the house staff, the students repre- sent the expediters who clear away the debris and present a diagnosis already made.