PDF Version Printer-Friendly Version
Vital Signs
Then & Now
A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from a 2000 booklet about Dr. Rolf Syvertsen, DMS's dean from 1945 to 1960:
"Steve Zaslow '58 tells a story illustrating how Sy also taught by example: 'It was the Asian flu epidemic of 1958. I had to go to [the student infirmary after falling ill]. . . . An hour after I was admitted, Dean Syvertsen popped in. I was amazed that he visited me. When he left, . . . I cried. It was then that I realized my vulnerability, sickness, and need for support. That one-minute visit taught me the power and influence of the physician to comfort and reassure. . . . It's a lesson that comes home to me repeatedly.'"
232
Number of hours DMS
students now spend learning
the art of patient care in the
On Doctoring course
A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from an article about national "firsts" in the Fall 1991 issue of this magazine:
"The first continuous infusion pump to deliver drugs for the management of intractable pain was implanted in a patient at DHMC in 1981. Dr. Dennis Coombs, the Garth Professor of Anesthesiology at DMS, developed a technique by which low doses of narcotics can be continuously infused into the spinal area. . . . Such pumps are now widely used for alleviating pain in patients with cancer and other disorders."
2007
Year the American Pain
Society established national
pain management awards
2007
Year DHMC was chosen
for honorable mention
in those awards
A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from minutes of DMS faculty meetings in 1854:
"Mr. Daniel Laing (Colored)
under the patronage of the
Mass. Col. Society & to go
to Liberia—was examined
for a degree. . . . Laing's certificates
of time of study in
this country & England are
received and the Diploma
forwarded by express today
to Reverend J. Tracy. Laing's
thesis on Remittent Fever."
Laing was not even the first
student of color to receive a
degree from DMS. Samuel
McGill, also of Liberia, graduated
with honors in 1838.
13
Number of black DMS
graduates in the 82 years
between 1838 and 1920
31
Number of students of color
who matriculated in DMS's
M.D. program in 2007
A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the 1902 DMS Circular of Information:
Home births being common then, the obstetrics course comprised "1. A course of 48 lectures illustrated by diagrams and the use of manikins, with occasional quizzes. 2. Recitations with section work upon manikins by the student. Preparation is thus secured for a course in the out-patient department of a lying-in hospital, which the student is advised to take during the vacation at the end of the third year. . . . 3. A few maternity cases are received at [Mary Hitchcock] Hospital, and when possible they serve to illustrate to the students in small sections the teaching and methods of obstetrics."
1,120
Number of babies born
at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Medical Center in FY2006
If you'd like to offer feedback about this article, we'd welcome getting your comments at DartMed@Dartmouth.edu.
This article may not be reproduced or reposted without permission. To inquire about permission, contact DartMed@Dartmouth.edu.