PAPERS ON MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 245 



ON THE TEACHING OF EAR, NOSE AND THROAT 



DISEASE 



G. W. Boot, M. D., Chicago 



Eighteen years spent in the teaching of ear, nose and 

 throat diseases have resulted in the development of definite 

 convictions in my mind as to how this subject should be 

 taught. I wish today to speak of two phases of this subject. 

 The first concerns the teaching of the subject and the second 

 the preparation of teachers. 



The Model Medical Curriculum published by the American 

 Medical Association in 1909 allotted 90 hours to the teach- 

 ing of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, of which 40 hours 

 were to be given to theoretical instruction, 40 hours to sec- 

 tional teaching and 10 hours to quizzes, etc. In the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois the time devoted to this subject is only 

 60 hours, of which didactic teaching is given 16 hours, cli- 

 nics 26 hours and sectional work 18 hours. This is but two- 

 thirds of the time allotted by the Model Medical Curriculum 

 and much less than is given at Rush Medical College where 

 the requirements are 1.2 majors, a major being 60 hours of 

 didactic work or 120 hours of clinical or sectional work. 

 Loyola requires .8 major and Northwestern 16 hours of 

 clinical work and 96 of dispensary. 



When we consider the importance of ear, nose and throat 

 diseases for instance; how most cases of meningitis have 

 their origin in the ear, nose or throat ; how the ear includes 

 two senses, hearing and balance, and how important hear- 

 ing is to our daily life and how completely dizziness due to 

 disturbance of the organ of balance can interfere with our 

 daily work; how adenoids cause deformities of the mouth, 

 teeth, nose and chest ; how often rheumatism, endocarditis, 

 heart disease, appendicitis, gall stones and so on have their 

 origin in the tonsils ; how often tuberculosis is the result of 

 defects in the nose and throat; then we have some small 

 idea of how important these organs are in our daily life and 

 how important it is that our physicians should be properly 

 instructed in this subject. 



