Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
World J Surg. 2012 Mar;36(3):684-8. doi: 10.1007/s00268-011-1407-x.
The 1910 Flexner Report on Medical Education in the United States and Canada is often taken as the point when medical schools in North America took on their modern form. However, many fundamental advances in surgery, such as anesthesia and asepsis, predated the report by decades. To understand the contribution of educators in this earlier period, we investigated the forgotten career of John Wishart, founding Professor of Surgery at Western University, London Ontario.
Archives at the University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, London City Library, and Wellington County Museum were searched for material about Wishart and his times.
A fragmented biography can be assembled from family notes and obituaries with the help of contemporary documents compiled by early 20th century medical school historians. Wishart assisted Abraham Groves in the first reported operation for which aseptic technique was used (1874). He was considered locally to perform pioneering surgery, including an appendectomy in 1886. Wishart was a founding member of the medical faculty at Western University in 1881, initially as Demonstrator of Anatomy and subsequently as its first Professor of Clinical Surgery, which post he held until 1910. Comprehensive notes from his undergraduate lectures demonstrate his teaching style, which mixed organized didacticism with practical advice. The role of the Flexner review in the termination of his professorship is hinted at in minutes of Faculty of Medicine meetings. Wishart was a foundation fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a founding physician of London's Catholic hospital, St. Joseph's, despite his own Protestant background.
Wishart's career comprised all the elements of modern academic surgery, including pioneering service, research, and teaching. Surgery at Western owes as much to Wishart as it does to university reorganization in response to the Flexner report.
1910 年美国和加拿大的 Flexner 医学教育报告通常被视为北美医学院采用现代形式的起点。然而，手术的许多基本进展，如麻醉和无菌操作，都早于该报告几十年。为了了解这一早期时期教育工作者的贡献，我们调查了安大略省伦敦市西部大学外科学创始教授约翰·威沙特（John Wishart）被遗忘的职业生涯。
在西安大略大学、多伦多大学、伦敦城市图书馆和惠灵顿县博物馆的档案中搜索有关威沙特及其时代的材料。
在家庭笔记和讣告的帮助下，可以从 20 世纪初医学史学家编纂的同期文件中整理出一个支离破碎的传记。威沙特协助亚伯拉罕·格罗夫斯（Abraham Groves）进行了第一次使用无菌技术的报道手术（1874 年）。他被认为在当地进行了开创性的手术，包括 1886 年的阑尾切除术。威沙特于 1881 年成为西部大学医学系的创始成员，最初担任解剖学讲师，随后担任其第一任临床外科学教授，直到 1910 年。他的本科讲座的综合笔记展示了他的教学风格，这种风格将有组织的教学法与实用建议相结合。在医学系会议记录中暗示了 Flexner 审查在终止他教授职位中的作用。威沙特是美国外科医师学院的创始研究员，也是伦敦天主教圣约瑟夫医院的创始医生，尽管他本人有新教背景。
威沙特的职业生涯包含了现代学术外科的所有要素，包括开创性的服务、研究和教学。西部大学的外科医学既得益于威沙特，也得益于 Flexner 报告后为响应 Flexner 报告而进行的大学重组。
