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Whom Do We Serve?

Whom Do We Serve? American College of Radiology are: Leslie E. Jones, M.D., Fond du Lac; Lawrence L. Larsen, M.D., Milwaukee; Alternates, Howard Bayley, M.D., Beaver Dam, and Loren Hart, M.D., Green Bay. CLINICAL CONFERENCE M. D. ANDERSON HOSPITAL AND TUMOR INSTITUTE "Cancer of the Uterus and Ovary" will be the subject of the Eleventh Annual Clinical Conference to be held at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, Texas, on December 1 and 2, 1966. Outstanding scientists and physicians from the United States and other countries will join staff members from M. D. Anderson Hospital in presenting current information on diagnostic procedures and treatment for carcinoma of the uterus, uterine cervix, and ovary. Co-sponsor of the conference is the Division of Continuing Education of The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston. PROJECT HOPE At the present time the S.S. HOPE is in Nicaragua co-operating in educational programs with the National University of Le6n Medical and Dental Schools and the National School of Nursing. In February 1967 a new program will begin in Cartagena, Colombia, with the Colombia Medical School Association and the University of Cartagena Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing. Project HOPE now has openings for radiologists who wish to serve for a minimum of two months as volunteers on the S.S. HOPE from February to December 1967. Full transportation and maintenance are provided. There are also openings for permanent physicians wishing to serve the full year. In addition, one- to two-year positions are available with continuing land-based programs. Interested physicians may take advantage of this international educational opportunity by writing to Project HOPE, 2233 Wisconsin Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C. 20007 Letters to the Editor Editor, RADIOLOGY DEAR SIR: Dr. Sherman's admirable letter in the July issue of RADIOLOGY reiterates the classical moral position of the radiologist. It is valuable to hear such expressions of goodness and faith now and then. Unfortunately, the facts of life in radiology today speak so loudly that Dr. Sherman's voice becomes lost in the sound of rotating anodes and whirring cameras and souped-up processors. Idealism, in radiology as in religion, is more honored in the breech than in the observance. It displays a peculiar Pel-Ebstein course, fluctuating in such a way that when needed most it is always at the low point of the cycle. I would be more content to ground excellence in radiology on sheer professional snobbery than in any set of ideals. The radiological facts of life are these: 1. It is impossible for a radiologist to see every patient referred to him. In medical schools, community hospitals, and offices where I have worked, this has never been feasible, even after those patients sent for purely survey studies were eliminated. To turn the job of patient confrontation over to a resident, as is done in certain teaching hospitals, does not seem to me to fulfill Dr. Sherman's intent. 2. I myself, like many radiologists, have no desire to see every patient who is sent in. Freedom from all except quite brief patient encounters is the most appealing part of our specialty to many of us. We are the pure morphologists of clinical medicine. Except in a limited way, we are not required to listen to prolonged descriptions of vague symptoms and systems reviews nor to make complete physical examinations. Anyone who wants to do these things should be something other than a radiologist. It is computer-simple to make a diagnosis when all the pieces of the puzzle are in hand. Our contribution is to make it from radiological data if we can. Or to contribute one piece to the puzzle from our methodology and technics. This does not make us technicians any more than a surgeon is a technician. 3. As one of my associates is fond of saying, it is time for us to admit that we are different from other doctors. This difference is responsible for the irritating attitude that other doctors, hospital administrators, and politicians have toward us. I see no way out of this unless radiologists form their own hospitals and hire surgeons and internists to do the scut work for them. The practice of medicine should be an intensely personal relationship between a patient and his doctor. Such relationships can not be satisfactorily developed in diagnostic radiology except in the most unusual circumstances. It is time to admit this. 4. We should not hesitate to share our knowledge with "part time radiologists" in other specialties. If we cannot do a better job than they do, perhaps radiology should cease to exist as a specialty. PERTINAX in the British Medical Journal quotes someone as saying that a profession is a vocation with pretensions. No profession has cashed in more on its pretensions than medicine. But the public, like myself, seems to be a little tired of all this talk about ethics and ideals when there is so little evidence of their presence in our daily work. I have no right or desire to impugn Dr. Sherman. He is probably the exception that disproves all I have said. But let us stop talking and get the job done to the best of our ability. Yours truly, WILLIAM H. SPRUNT, III, M.D. Raleigh, N. C. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Radiology Radiological Society of North America, Inc.

Whom Do We Serve?

Radiology , Volume 87: 1125 – Dec 1, 1966

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Publisher
Radiological Society of North America, Inc.
Copyright
Copyright © December 1966 by Radiological Society of North America
ISSN
1527-1315
eISSN
0033-8419
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

American College of Radiology are: Leslie E. Jones, M.D., Fond du Lac; Lawrence L. Larsen, M.D., Milwaukee; Alternates, Howard Bayley, M.D., Beaver Dam, and Loren Hart, M.D., Green Bay. CLINICAL CONFERENCE M. D. ANDERSON HOSPITAL AND TUMOR INSTITUTE "Cancer of the Uterus and Ovary" will be the subject of the Eleventh Annual Clinical Conference to be held at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, Texas, on December 1 and 2, 1966. Outstanding scientists and physicians from the United States and other countries will join staff members from M. D. Anderson Hospital in presenting current information on diagnostic procedures and treatment for carcinoma of the uterus, uterine cervix, and ovary. Co-sponsor of the conference is the Division of Continuing Education of The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston. PROJECT HOPE At the present time the S.S. HOPE is in Nicaragua co-operating in educational programs with the National University of Le6n Medical and Dental Schools and the National School of Nursing. In February 1967 a new program will begin in Cartagena, Colombia, with the Colombia Medical School Association and the University of Cartagena Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing. Project HOPE now has openings for radiologists who wish to serve for a minimum of two months as volunteers on the S.S. HOPE from February to December 1967. Full transportation and maintenance are provided. There are also openings for permanent physicians wishing to serve the full year. In addition, one- to two-year positions are available with continuing land-based programs. Interested physicians may take advantage of this international educational opportunity by writing to Project HOPE, 2233 Wisconsin Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C. 20007 Letters to the Editor Editor, RADIOLOGY DEAR SIR: Dr. Sherman's admirable letter in the July issue of RADIOLOGY reiterates the classical moral position of the radiologist. It is valuable to hear such expressions of goodness and faith now and then. Unfortunately, the facts of life in radiology today speak so loudly that Dr. Sherman's voice becomes lost in the sound of rotating anodes and whirring cameras and souped-up processors. Idealism, in radiology as in religion, is more honored in the breech than in the observance. It displays a peculiar Pel-Ebstein course, fluctuating in such a way that when needed most it is always at the low point of the cycle. I would be more content to ground excellence in radiology on sheer professional snobbery than in any set of ideals. The radiological facts of life are these: 1. It is impossible for a radiologist to see every patient referred to him. In medical schools, community hospitals, and offices where I have worked, this has never been feasible, even after those patients sent for purely survey studies were eliminated. To turn the job of patient confrontation over to a resident, as is done in certain teaching hospitals, does not seem to me to fulfill Dr. Sherman's intent. 2. I myself, like many radiologists, have no desire to see every patient who is sent in. Freedom from all except quite brief patient encounters is the most appealing part of our specialty to many of us. We are the pure morphologists of clinical medicine. Except in a limited way, we are not required to listen to prolonged descriptions of vague symptoms and systems reviews nor to make complete physical examinations. Anyone who wants to do these things should be something other than a radiologist. It is computer-simple to make a diagnosis when all the pieces of the puzzle are in hand. Our contribution is to make it from radiological data if we can. Or to contribute one piece to the puzzle from our methodology and technics. This does not make us technicians any more than a surgeon is a technician. 3. As one of my associates is fond of saying, it is time for us to admit that we are different from other doctors. This difference is responsible for the irritating attitude that other doctors, hospital administrators, and politicians have toward us. I see no way out of this unless radiologists form their own hospitals and hire surgeons and internists to do the scut work for them. The practice of medicine should be an intensely personal relationship between a patient and his doctor. Such relationships can not be satisfactorily developed in diagnostic radiology except in the most unusual circumstances. It is time to admit this. 4. We should not hesitate to share our knowledge with "part time radiologists" in other specialties. If we cannot do a better job than they do, perhaps radiology should cease to exist as a specialty. PERTINAX in the British Medical Journal quotes someone as saying that a profession is a vocation with pretensions. No profession has cashed in more on its pretensions than medicine. But the public, like myself, seems to be a little tired of all this talk about ethics and ideals when there is so little evidence of their presence in our daily work. I have no right or desire to impugn Dr. Sherman. He is probably the exception that disproves all I have said. But let us stop talking and get the job done to the best of our ability. Yours truly, WILLIAM H. SPRUNT, III, M.D. Raleigh, N. C.

Journal

RadiologyRadiological Society of North America, Inc.

Published: Dec 1, 1966

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