Irish Medical Education and Student Culture, c.1850-1950 [Paperback]

This book explores the history of medical education and student life in Ireland from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, with particular focus on issues of gender and class.This book is the first comprehensive history of medical student culture and medical education in Ireland from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1950s. Utilising a variety of rich sources, including novels, newspapers, student magazines, doctors' memoirs, and oral history accounts, it examines Irish medical student life and culture, incorporating students' educational and extra-curricular activities at all of the Irish medical schools.

The book investigates students' experiences in the lecture theatre, hospital, dissecting room and outside their studies, such as in 'digs', sporting teams and in student societies, illustrating how representations of medical students changed in Ireland over the period and examines the importance of class, religious affiliation and the appropriate traits that students were expected to possess. It highlights religious divisions as well as the dominance of the middle classes in Irish medical schools while also exploring institutional differences, the students' decisions to pursue medical education, emigration and the experiences of women medical students within a predominantly masculine sphere. Through an examination of the history of medical education in Ireland, this book builds on our understanding of the Irish medical profession while also contributing to the wider scholarship of student life and culture. It will appeal to those interested in the history of medicine, the history of education and social history in modern Ireland. Drawing on a rich range of sources written by students, and focusing on their experiences, she repositions the student at the centre of medical education to give a 'bottom-up' view of university, medical school, and hospital training and life that enriches our understanding of medical education in Irl3A