Læknablaðið - 01.12.1963, Page 55

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
175
The length of the curriculum
was increased where practi-
cahle, vacations were curtailed.
and hours of instructions were
lengthened but the solution was
nol forthcoming. Wliat resulted
by tbe measures adopted was
tliat the medical student l)e-
came crammed with facts he
neither had the time to compre-
hend nor correlate. His training
was ill balanced and his appre-
ciation of the sciences deficient.
The answer which has now
been accepted is to give a new
purpose to undergraduate train-
ing, to seek to produce not the
complete doctor but a man
trained in the basic sciences and
in the principles of medicine so
that he can subsequently de-
velop liis skill and gain liis ex-
perience. He will bave a scien-
tific approach to his problems
which will enable him to ana-
lyse and understand new devel-
opments. This is the theme of
Sir George Pickering’s paper,
but by its adoption a whole new
series of problems arise. Tbe
young graduate will be deficient
in experience and there will be
lacunae in his knowledge. Ac-
cordingly Post Graduate edu-
cation clearly no longer can be
regarded as an elective exer-
cise for the few who wish to
proceed further but becomes an
essential for all.
Basically the problem is a
tliree-fold one, concerning it-
self with ensuring that where
in knowledge and experience
the new graduate is deficient,
tlie post graduate education
must make good tliis short-
coming, where the young grad-
uate wishes to learn more
deeply in some special field Post
Graduate education must pro-
vide the necessarv training and
facilities, and when the doctor
is in practice it is Post Gradu-
ate education which must be the
means wlierebv he can remain
adequately familiar with the
new developments.
If we consider the require-
ments of the newly graduated
doctor we recognise that his
further training must fall into
stages which follow in a natural
chronological order. In the firsl
he has to gain increasing clinic-
al experience and a growing
appreciation of the exercise of
responsibility. This is a period
when he must work under care-
ful supervision and guidance.
It is a period of residency in
hospital and it has to be con-
stantly remembered that this
is still a period of training and
that these young doctors must
not be regarded as merely pro-
viding available labour whicli
can be exploited for minor rou-
tine tasks. Just how long this
period should be is open to dis-
cussion, but clearly the second
stage gradually evolves. — A
stage of gaining elective experi-