Medical Education in the United States Before the Civil War

The many and conflicting histories of medical education in Canada and the USA: an introduction to the paradigm wars

“…Medical education during the colonial era consisted of an apprenticeship that involved the passing on of a collection of beliefs, practices and rituals from doctor to apprentice 6,7 . Many different groups, including midwives, barber‐surgeons, apothecaries, bone‐setters and clergy, practised aspects of what we now call medicine.…”

“…Many different groups, including midwives, barber‐surgeons, apothecaries, bone‐setters and clergy, practised aspects of what we now call medicine. Each learned their trade by working with a practitioner over months or years 6 . An exception was a very small academic elite educated in the medieval universities of the UK, France, Germany and Austria.…”

“…The secrets of the body had not yet been unlocked and explanations of health and disease were humoural and mystical 5 . Religion was dominant and priests and clergy controlled knowledge and arbitrated on the appropriateness of human behaviour 6 …”

Part II: Reformers in medical education and practice

“…However, acute administrative disorganization had left many medical colleges in the United States in a deplorable state. The clinical departments were often staffed by nonresident, part-time physicians using old fashioned teaching methods (29). Some were proprietary schools offering instruction that was substandard and were no better than 'diploma factories'.…”

Training opportunities for the nineteenth-century American neurologist

“…20 In general, the instruction plan for this type of education was individualized since the trainee allied himself independently to a mentor of his choice. Private preceptorships were firmly established in the American medical community of the nineteenth century and fostered both laboratory and clinical training.…”