HOUSE SURGEONS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20623, 12 August 1932, Page 10

HOUSE SURGEONS.

MAINTAINING THE SUPPLY.

A WELLINGTON SCHEME,

LTHB PBESS Special SwTlce.l

WELLINGTON, August 11. Faced with a shortage of house surgeons. Hospital Boards in the main oontros, it is stated, are experiencing great difficulty in securing as complete staffs as is desirable. In Wellington tho position hr, s been met by employing students in their sixth year, as resident dressers, with a view to their engagement next year as house surgeon*. It is hoped that under this policy an amplo supply of abJo and experienced men will !h: guaranteed lor the future. Causes of the Shortage. Mr it. Campbell Begg, chairman of the House Committee ol tho A\ cllington Hospital Board, said that tho shortage" of house surgeons was owing to various causes, of them dependent on the situation of the country and some to the lack or' co-ordination of the legitimate requirements of the various grades of hospitals. Numerous hospitals under individual control, all competing lor the small available supply of resident medical men, created an undesirable position. The smaller hospitals, where tho experience was not so good, had to odcr larger and larger salaries to tempt young graduates to take up positions, and so induce them to s.jcrifirc the essential experience to be gained in largo hospitals tor immediate iinancial gain. The position was not conducive to the creation of a body ot thoroughly equipped medical practitioners, and should be met by a definite allotment or quota of graduates to the different hospitals, as well as the fixing of a maximum scale of remuneration to be offered. The amalgamation of the existing hospital districts so as to form a fixed number, each centred on a large base hospital, would help to nolve the question. In Wellington, We difficulty h<id been overcome by 9tcploying'students in their sixth y«M as resident dressers. As the period required for graduation was until recently five years, these men wero just as experienced as graduates under the old svstetn. They wero doing excellent work and had now the value of clinical assistants, which was a new feature of medical organisation. The latter were men who had had considerable experience overseas, had .taken their senior qualifications, and had recently started practice in Wellington, they stood in the position of.n senior assistant and formed the third member of each surgical, medical, and special team.

A Valuable System. "This innovation," continued Mr Begg, "lias proved its value. Next year wo shall be able to employ as house surgeons those who are at present acting as dressers. They will then be fully qualified, and glad to continue the very valuable experience which the hospital is able to givo them. By this policy of employing promising students as dressers, and later as house surgeons, and finally as surgeons, physicians, and specialists, we shall havo a guarantee for the future that there will be an ample supply of very able and experienced men always available to fill the higher posts as they fall vacant."