The Evolution and Devolution of Hospital Care

I entered medical school in 1969. Through a quirk of fate, I found myself part of an experimental program in medical education, the “Clinical Program,” as it was called. It was an off-the-wall endeavor, but I was forged by it. From my first day of medical school — before I had taken classes in anatomy or physiology, pathology or pharmacology — I was placed into clinical clerkships that traditional students do not enter until their third year of training. And since I knew nothing of the culture of medicine, its doctors or hospitals, my sole identification was with my patients.