The development of inhalation anaesthesia : with special reference to the years 1846-1900... / [Barbara M. Duncum].
- Duncum, Barbara M.
- Date:
- 1947
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The development of inhalation anaesthesia : with special reference to the years 1846-1900... / [Barbara M. Duncum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
550/664 page 530
![tions and examinations alone. . . . Considering that the vast bulk of the candidates pass into general practice, they will not commonly be called upon to remove stones from the cystic duct, or to pronounce a definite opinion upon a complicated scrotal tumour ! It is manifest, however, that such ordinary routine duties as the administration of anaesthetics will . . . * certainly fall to their lot ; and it seems to me, speaking with all diffidence, that the tendency to examine in difficult and obscure subjects to the neglect of common and ordinary ones, is a serious defect in modern medical education. ... ' It would be too much to expect that every medical man could be rendered a highly-skilled anaesthetist. He should, however, be able and competent to select an appropriate anaesthetic for any given case of operation, and he should be competent to administer the common agents with confidence and celerity. Especially should he be prepared with a good knowledge of such preliminary measures as are essential to the safety of the patient—emptying the stomach of food, removal of thoracic constrictions by tight clothing, inspection of the mouth for artificial dentures, and the like. The remedial measures to be employed in cases of sudden symptoms of danger should be clearly understood, and the administrator should be prepared with the requisite apparatus. ... ' There can be no doubt that this subject should at once receive the earnest attention of the General Medical Council. ... In concluding this article, I am expressing the feelings of many by a sincere wish that Mr. Teale [x] or some other en- lightened and influential member of the General Medical Council will seriously consider the advisability of the adoption of compulsory education in the subject of anaesthetics. This must not be an addition to the curriculum. It should rather be looked upon as the proper carrying-out of an important part of it. Besides attendance upon a certain number of lectures and demonstrations, it should be compulsory for every medical man before qualification to produce evidence that he has administered anaesthetics to a given number of cases under the supervision of a skilled person.' 2 Shield's plea for the compulsory training and examination of students in anaesthesia was echoed by the Lancet in a leader on October 17, 1896 ;3 but nobody seemed prepared directly to approach the General Medical Council and try to force a decision. 1 Pridgin Teale had recently criticized the existing system of medical education as a whole. 2 Practitioner, 1896, 57, 387-93. 3 Lancet, 1896, ii, 1093.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20457200_0554.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
