Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12
Keeping Doctors Up to Date

toner. The community ought to re-
uuire this service of the university. Not
long ago the present Secretary of the
Interior was heard to challenge an off,
Ger who had outlined the program Of a
new metropolitan medical college to
describe what plans, If any, had been
made by that college for the continued
has been more active than DR.. Ray
Lyman Wilbur in urging that the vast
clinical material of the United States,
whether in the small country hospital
or in the great metropolitan medical
center, be made fully available for the
modern process of adult education as
applied to the practitioner.
In still another field the university
must carry larger burdens. 1t must
outline plans for the adequate training
of the specialist. The American Medi-
cal Association has been trying for
years to define the standards for spe-
cialistic practice, and only short time
ago its council on medical education
was asked ito investigate the entire
subject and to make recommendations
looking to the establishment of proper
qualifications for physicians who shall
engage in special practice"
Formulating Standards.
We 0AC0Ay Ai&fC aLI AulcTlCdH bOATQ
OF Oto-Laryngology and an American
Board Of Gynecology and Obstetrics,
whose standards for certif1cation are in
force. Other national groups are In
process OF formulating their standards.
When these standards have been gen.
orally adopted the community will be
able to know that given man has been
approved by an authorized body to I'M
dertake specialistic work in internal
medicine, in surgery. in urology, in
gynecology or in other fields.
The community must demand this
protection for ITSELF and must insist
upon the authoritative designation of
specialists. The medical profession must
protect itself from disrepute by setting
up standards by which specialists shall
be tested. The university must provide
for the education Of those desiring to
practice specially.
Denmark Is well ahead Of the United
States In this matter. There no phy-
slcian may practice a speciality or as
sumo title indicating proficiency in
any medical field unless he has COM
piled with all the requirements laid
down by the state.
These recent developments make 1t
apparent that university medical educa-
ton is becoming more complex and a
more continuous process than in the
past. The student who starts to study
medicine will be told from the first
that he is launching upon a career that
will require lifelong study. His medical
education will never be completed He
will advance in proportion as he seeks
instruction so as to keep abreast of the
developments of modern medicine.
What provision are the universities
Of America actually making for the con-
tinued education of the practitioner?
A few teachers here and there in the
United States have long been convinced
of the need for postgraduate medical
education. For example, as early as
1875 group OF seven teachers in the
New York University Medical School
set themselves to the task of -educat-
ing the practitioner. For seven years
they were known as the postgraduate
teaching group within that school.
In 1882, convinced that such teaching
could not be carried on concurrently
with the teaching of undergraduates,
these seven pioneers resigned from the
undergraduate medical school and laid
the foundations OF the New York Post
Graduate Medical School and Hospital,
which is designed to give instruction