MEDICAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM ADJUSTED
During the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists’ Constituency Meeting held March 24, 1915, the Committee on Plans made another major change in the CME curriculum. “Resolved, That the Board of Trustees be authorized to give a medical course of four instead of five years, as now required, in case proper adjustment of pre-medical work can be made at the time of the Education Council to be held in June.”
On March 28, 1915, the Board of Trustees accepted a report from the committee appointed to investigate the needs of the work in Los Angeles. It included a recommendation that the present outpatient dispensary be enlarged, and that plans be drawn for a new dispensary, combined with a 50-bed hospital, a small chapel, and clinical rooms.
They also voted, “that the chairman appoint a committee to present recommendations to the Southern California Sanitarium Association Board, with the view of using all of the medical institutions in Los Angeles County in such a way as to be beneficial to the Medical College.”
The Board believed that the work of CME must always fully harmonize with the general plans of the SDA denomination. Because many nonresident Board members should have a voice, the Board voted to submit all new plans to the full Board. To strengthen and unify the institution’s efforts, the Board included major improvements, investments, and annual departmental budgets in their decisions. Furthermore, they voted that the Constituency evaluate all extraordinary expenses and approve all of the planned improvements and provisions for financing before starting work.
On June 17, 1915, the Board voted to ask the North American Division to build the “Ellen G. White Memorial Hospital,” at a cost not to exceed $50,000. They also voted to solicit cooperation from people who could provide property suitable for a home for medical students and that the entire plan be submitted for approval to the Autumn Council of the denomination.
August H. Larson, MD, professor of Clinical Obstetrics, was the first full-time member of the Los Angeles clinical faculty.
During the November 11, 1915, Constituency Meeting, Newton G. Evans, MD, president of CME, reported that a radical change had been made in the medical school curriculum. CME now provided a four-year medical course of 36 weeks. Entrance requirements had been increased from one year to two years of college studies, in addition to 12 grades of schoolwork. “The two years of college studies must include certain specified subjects; namely, chemistry, physics, biology, and the study of some modern language in addition to English.”
Evans reported that medical students received two-and-a-half years of clinical experience in Loma Linda, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles, “practically one year of this time being spent in Los Angeles.” The Los Angeles outpatient clinic now saw 30 to 40 patients a day. The 1,200-bed Los Angeles County Hospital on Mission Road, overseen by volunteer members of the hospital staff, provided both inpatient and outpatient experience. Evans reported that the number of patients at the Loma Linda Hospital had increased to an average of 30 patients a day, most of them available for clinical teaching. He expected patronage to increase to its capacity of 70.
He reported that CME used the San Bernardino County Hospital, with an average daily census of 150 patients. In addition to these hospitals, Loma Linda Sanitarium presented opportunities for practical experience in patient care.
Dr. Evans reported that nine of the 12 graduates from the second class took the California State Board examinations in July of 1915, and all passed successfully. “Since it is true that the legal standing of the graduates of the school depends upon the standing of the school, and that the standing of the school to a certain extent is influenced by the success of these graduates in their examinations before State Boards, it is a source of much gratitude that so many of these recent graduates were successful.”
After expressing CME’s great need for more acceptable clinical facilities in Los Angeles, he told of an interesting development regarding CME’s standing with the AMA. “We have recently received word from Dr. N[athan] P. Colwell, of the Council on Medical Education, that he expects to visit the school again this fall or winter, and that he hopes to find conditions so improved, especially along clinical lines, that he can recommend a higher rating for the school by the Council on Medical Education.
“It may be of interest to know that Dr. Malloney, who is vice president of the California State Board of Medical Examiners, recently wrote to Dr. Colwell, strongly urging that a change in the rating of the College of Medical Evangelists should be made by the Council on Medical Education, and insisting that the present rating is an injustice to our school.
“The fact that influential members of the California Board have taken this action without solicitation should give us courage and indicates that some progress is being made in the effort to so improve our work as to give it the legal recognition which the instruction from the Lord leads us to believe is in the line of His Providence.”
To be continued…