STUDY IN SURGERY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 74, 18 November 1931, Page 7

STUDY IN SURGERY

EXAMINERS' VISIT EXAMINATION STANDARD IN DOMINIONS HIGH NOTED SURGEONS PRAISE Two distinguished examiners to the Royal Colleg-e of Suregons of England, P-rofessor William Wright, dean and professor of anatomy at London Hospital Medical Gollege, and Professor George B'uckmas'ter, professor of physiology at Bristol University, reeently visited New Zealand. Professor Wright interviewed said, that 20 candidates had presented themselves for examination in Melhourne in the subjects of anatomy and physiology. He himself 'conducted the examination in anatomy and Professor Buckmaster dealt with the other subject. Of the 20 'candidates 10 passed," including one from New Zealand. The standard of the candidates' wo-rk was high, which meant that the teaching in Australia and New Zealand was s'atisfactory. These exammations in anatomy and physiology, each consisting of a three-

nour wriDten paper ana an orai examination lasting 20 minutes, were preliminaries .'to a second examination, field only in London, whicfi consisted wfiolly of surgery and surgical pathology. The holding of the primary examination in Australia this year was arranged by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, which came into exis'tence in 1927. It was , the first time the examination had heen held in Australia, although it had been field twdce previously in Canada and would fie held aga'in this year at Toronto, wfiere Professor Wright and Professor Buckmaster are now bound. Discussing the number of medical students attending universities, Professor Wright said ithere was a big influx into the profession

•aiter tne war wnen ex-service men were given service awards. This was certainly in evidence in England and was probably more or less the •same all over the Empire. The medical course being a five-year course, the condition lasted un'til 1923. After that there was rather a rapid decline, since when it seemed to have remained on a'bout the same level. Use of Local Anaesthetics. Great advances had taken place in the use of radium, Professor Wright said, and considerable progress made in diathermy and anesthesia. Local anaesthetics, with the patient conscious, were being used mcreasingly by surgeons, and the result wras that shock was considerably lessened, and, in the case of elderly patients, there was no respiratory trouble. He himself had seen even a serious operation inside the skull performed with the patient conscious all the time. Returning to the subject of examinations, Professor Wright said that he personally had no doubt that there would be another examination for Australian 'and New Zealand students in three years or thereabouts, and that on that occasion it was very likely that the examinations would be held both in Melbourne and Dunedin. . With the same examinations at London, Edinburgh, Toronto, Melbourne and Dunedin, as might eventually be the case, it would do much to promote a higher and more uniform degree of surgical lmowledge and skill throughout the Empire. Professor Buckmaster agreed with his colleague in this, pointing out that at the present time both were actual examiners to the Royal Gollege of Surgeons' of England, and that the examinations at Melbourne were as near as they could make them of exactly ihe same sort and standard as the primary examinations in London. The examination for the degree of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England was a hall mark, of surgical skill. If a man wished to be known as a skilful and expert surgeon it was incumbent upon him to •take the examination. Good Equlpment Seen. The present visit to Australia and New Zealand was the outcome of an' dnvitation extended to them by the Royal Australasian Gollege of Surigeons, Professor Buckmaster continued. In an informal way he and Professor Wright h'ad picked up a good deal of information as to the kind of teaching in Australia and New Zealand. They h'ad found that the whole arrangement of things in Australia was rather different from con•ditions in England. In Australia there was a far greater severance between physiological and anatomieal work on the one lrand and hospital worlc on the • other. The clo'se Haison which exist- ; ed he'tween such divisions of wrork ' in England showed up all the more distinctly when contrasted with Australian methods. He and Professor Wright had heen pleased to find that equipment was very good all over the count-ry, and that arrangements for teaching the subjects of the primary • examination were very good 'also. "They have excellent outfits," Professor Buckmaster said_, "and the equipiment is equal, certainly in the bigger centres, to anything in England."