Page 2
Duke University Medical Center, InterGom
April 1965
Coming in May
The Duke University Medical Center Annual Report, usually included
in the April issue of the Intercom, will be printed separately this year.
The 1964 Annual Report will be available for distribution May 15, 1965.
The New Curriculum
(Continued from page 1)
Essentially, the new curriculum
will allow medical students to cover
in two years the same areas it now
takes them four years to cover. In
their third and fourth years, they
will work as a team with faculty
members for in-depth study of sci
ences and disciplines closely related
but separate from their chosen branch
of medicine.
They will not really begin train
ing for general practice or special
ties until their intern and residency
training years.
Dr. Anlyan said the new program
will be made possible through the
development of a “core” concept for
teaching basic sciences and clinical
medicine.
Today, medical students spend their
first two years—more than 1,800 class
room hours—in study of basic sci
ences. In their last two years, they
spend three months in each of the
major clinical disciplines—obstetrics,
surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine
and psychiatry.
In the new program, the basic sci
ences—biochemistry, anatomy, micro
biology, etc.-—^will be boiled down
to essentials and principles that have
held true through the years so they
can be taught in one year. Dr. Anlyan
said.
The emphasis will be on conceptual
learning rather than memorizing of
facts—in keeping with the massive
amount of medical knowledge now
available.
In their second year under the new
curriculum, students will spend seven
weeks in each of the ma.ior clinical
disciplines.
Thus, at the end of their second
year, they will be better prepared to
make a career choice—specialist, gen
eral practitioner or academician—and
they will be better prepared to evalu
ate the areas in which they need in-
depth training.
Dr. Anlyan said that the new pro
gram also is expected to eliminate
much of the repetition that now exists
between medical school and intern
ship training.
Dr. Barnes Woodhall, vice provost
of medical affairs at Duke, explained
that present medical teaching tech
niques are based on the famed Flex-
ner Report of 1914, a report that
revolutionized American medical edu
cation.
But the knowledge available to the
doctor of 1914 was minute compared
to that available today, he said, and
many of the teaching techniques have
become obsolete.
“We have been studying the new
curriculum for several years, and we
have had the benefit of advice from
some of the top medical minds in
America,” Dr. Woodhall said.
lie also noted the recent report of
the President’s Commission on Heart
Disease, Strokes and Cancer which
cited a massive gap betw'een available
medical knowledge and its applica
tion to the American people. He
said the new program may prove in
valuable in narrowing this gap.
The grant from the Commonwealth
Fund will provide $150,000 a year
for the next five years. The fund
devotes most of its income to the pro
motion of health in its broadest sense,
chiefly through grants for medical
education and fellowships.
It was established in 1918 by a gift
from Mrs. Stephen V. Ilarkness with
subsequent gifts from her heirs.
c4dminUtta live
3^ixectox i
Cotnet
by Charles H. Frenzel
Again this past year Duke Hospital
provided more patient days, more
outpatient visits, and more services
to more patients than during any
year since it opened in 1930.
We are approaching full utilization
of our facilities with current methods
of operation. Our waiting list for ad
mission is growing, and many diag
nostic and treatmeiat services have
reached their capacity. New services
were introduced last year, and many
services were strengthened. The re
sult is increased pressures on the
resources available.
The next year will undoubtedly see
another increase in demand for our
services. No additional space to per
form these services will be available
during this year. Our efforts must
be directed tow’ard improved methods
and, where feasible, longer hours of
operation.
The best thinking of the faculty
and staff of the Medical Center will
be required to determine the most
effective methods we can use to meet
these increasing demands with the
resources and facilities that will be
available. The Main Entrance Build
ing and Clinical Research II Build
ing, scheduled for completion late in
1966, will provide only partial and
temporary relief and, at our present
rate of growth, will be long overdue,
even with improved utilization of our
facilities.