Teaching the History of Medicine
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Medical Faculty:
MSc Nutrition: every year, David Smith provides a seminar on the history of nutrition science, his special area of interest.
Medical Students:
Phase II Special Study Module: Population Based Disease: Therapy Theme Group: November-December
Approximately a quarter of the class is assigned to the 'Therapy Theme Group'. During 1997 this was further subdivided into 'topic groups' as follows: 'Adequacy of the medical model', 'Economic and Political Aspects', 'Medical Practice Variation', 'Historical Aspects of Therapy'.
David Smith is tutor for 'Historical Aspects of Therapy'. During 1997 two groups of five students conducted projects on 'Clitorectomy in the Nineteenth Century' and 'Treatments for Homosexuality in the Twentieth Century'.
In 1998 the topics on offer will probably be 'Secret Remedies and the Medical Profession' and 'The rise and fall of tonsillectomy'. Further details will be available here in due course.
Each project group meets with the tutor twice a week, and their work is assessed by means of a group essay and presentation. There is an element of peer assessment. The presentations are given all the students in the Theme Group.
Phase III Special Study Module: Medical Ethics: May-June
All students attend a week of core activities on medical ethics, which includes a morning of activities on the history of medical ethics organised by David Smith. This will consist of two one-hour lectures and small group discussion of source material concerning 1. Medical etiquette; 2. Homeopathy and the Medical Profession; 3. Medicine and the State. The aim of the morning is to introduce students to the idea of the development and deployment of ethical ideas by individuals and groups for tactical and strategic purposes.
For further reading on the topics covered in the lectures, see History of Medical Ethics Bibliography
The module is assessed by means of an individual essay on a medical ethical topic the student's choice. Students are also required to participate in a group project leading to an assessed group presentation. For the purposes of the group work, the class id divided into five 'theme groups' as follows: 'Reproductive / Neonatal', 'Inequalities in Health Care', 'Palliative Care, death and dying', 'Rationing in health care' and 'Frontiers of Science'. In 1998 David Smith will be responsible for a group of students working on history of eugenics within the 'Frontiers of Science' theme group.
Phase IV 'Paramedical' Special Study Module November-December
This module will be offered for the first time in November 1999. Students will be able to choose to work individual on a history of medicine project under the supervision of David Smith. More details and suggestions for projects will be included here shortly. Meanwhile interested students are invited to contact David Smith by Email d.f.smith@abdn.ac.uk
Medical Faculty
To date, David Smith has provided single seminars annually for the Public Health and MSc Nutrition students. In November 1997 he will also be supervising an elective project under the current curriculum.
The nature of the history of medicine under the new curriculum is now becoming clearer. It seems that there will be opportunities for history of medicine teaching in years three to five of the curriculum, as follows:
November 1997: Phase II Special Study Modules: Population Based Disease: Therapy Theme Group (weeks 9 - 12, starting 24/11/97)
Approximately 40 of the 200 students will be assigned to the 'Therapy Theme Group' of the Phase II Special Study Module, and will be further subdivided into 5 'topic groups' as follows: 'Adequacy of the medical model', 'Economic and Political Aspects', 'Medical Practice Variation', 'Historical Aspects of Therapy', and 'Efficacy of Therapy'. Each 'topic group' will have a supervisor, and David Smith with be topic supervisor for 'Historical Aspects of Therapy'.
It is anticipated that 8 students in each topic group will work on projects in two groups of four. There will be a minimum of two tutorials per week, and the last two days (18-19/12/97) will be taken up with presentation and assessment. The presentations will be made to the 40 students in the 'theme group'. Each group of four students will prepare a group essay with a common mark, and this will be combined with an element of within-group peer assessment.
David Smith is required to prepare an A4 outline of his proposals for the 'Historical Aspects of Therapy' topics by the next meeting of the Group on 10th June.
May 1998: Phase III Special Study Modules: Medical Ethics, a four-week block, around May 1998
The 200 students will attend a week of core activities on medical ethics, and will then be divided into 5 'theme groups as follows: 'Reproductive / Neonatal', 'Inequalities in Health Care', 'Palliative Care, death and dying', 'Rationing in health care' and 'Frontiers of Science'. The 'theme groups' will each be then divided into 'topic groups'. David Smith will be responsible for a historical 'topic group' within one or more of the 'theme groups': he will supervise student group projects on historical medical-ethical dilemmas.
November 1999: Phase IV 'Non-Medical Special Study Module' in the History of Medicine
David Smith is member of the working party developing the final year of the medical curriculum, which first met in January 1997. The 'Non-Medical Special Study Modules' will be offered for the first time as a eight-week block immediately before Christmas 1999. The history of medicine module will involve up to about 20 students, and will consist of individual project work. David Smith will be responsible for the module, but other members of the Diet, Disease, Death group have agreed to assist with suggestions of projects, interviews with students, and second-marking of essays.
History department
With the number of staff now at Aberdeen who have an interest in the History of Medicine it is proposed to offer a new degree, History and History of Medicine or History with History of Medicine. The former would require that, at the Honour's Level, students acquire at least half of their credits in courses that the department has designated as 'History of Medicine'. The latter degree would require only a minimum of twenty-five percent of the credits come from these designated courses. According to our present schedule the courses detailed below would be designated.
The new first year introductory course 'Revolutions 1688-1917' of which David Smith is co-ordinator, will include a week of lectures and tutorials on the theme 'Medical Revolutions of the Nineteenth Century', as a means of introducing history students to the idea of taking further history of medicine-designated courses. In the other new first year course, 'Europe and the Wider World: contacts, conquests and cultural interchange' there will be a section on 'Intellectual and Technical Interchange' which will include material on medicine and disease.
The possibility of introducing a Masters in the history of medicine is also under discussion. At present, the research training menu of courses (e.g., Latin, paleography, IT) in which all entering postgraduate students participate includes an element on 'Methodologies and Historiography for the study of the History of Medicine'.
The provisional list of Honours courses designated for 'History of Medicine' are:
Session 1996-97
- H. Hotson: 'Renaissance, Reformation and Universal Reform: Paracelsus, Hartlib and the development of new intellectual ideas'
- W. Naphy: 'Plague, Poison and Persecution, c. 1348-c. 1600'
- F. Pedersen: 'Law, Sex and the Family in the Middle Ages'
Session 1997-98
- W. Naphy: 'Plague, Poison and Persecution, c. 1348-c. 1600'
- F. Pedersen: 'Law, Sex and the Family in the Middle Ages'
- D. Smith: 'In Sickness and In Health: Popular and Professional Debates and Controversies of the 20th Century'
- R. Tyson: 'Life and Death: The Population History of the British Isles'
- O. Walsh: 'Morality, Madness and Medicine'
Session 1998-99
- H. Hotson: 'Renaissance, Reformation and Universal Reform: Paracelsus, Hartlib and the development of new intellectual ideas'
- W. Naphy: 'Nobility and Poverty, c. 1400-1700: The Care and Regulation of Social Groups'
- D. Smith: 'History of Medicine of the 20th Century'
Session 1999-2000
- F. Pedersen: 'Law, Sex and the Family in the Middle Ages'
- D. Smith: 'History of Medicine of the 20th Century'
- R. Tyson: 'Life and Death: The Population History of the British Isles'
- O. Walsh: 'Morality, Madness and Medicine'