Med School Comprehensive Care Unit Head Knows Where It's At in GP

              I HE SHREVEPORT 1IMES Sunday. July 4, 1971 3 C
Med School Comprehensive Care Unit Head Knows Where It's At in GP
Dr. Robert D. Knapp Jr.
The family physician is com-ing
back to town.
Or, couched in the language
of the 1970s, his job is called
comprehensive care, but it's
still general practice.
And, it's making a comeback,
according to Dr. Walter C.
Bornemeir, outgoing president
of the American Medical Asso-ciation.
Dr. Edgar Hull, dean of the
Louisiaa State University Med-ical
School at Shreveport be-lieves
it, and points out there is
even a speciality board, The
American Academy of General
Practice.
And, Dr. Robert D. Knapp Jr.,
Wyoming - country - doctor -
turned Mayo - Clinic - editor,
not only agrees, but he has
come to S h r e v e p o r t to do|
something about it.
As the new p r o f e s s o r of
medicine, head of the medical
school's Comprehensive C a r e
Unit, Knapp will be telling
young medical students where
it's at in the area of general
practice.
Route to Specialist
He feels that a person in
general p r a c t i c e "can treat
most things, and if the person
does need a specialist, having a
family doctor is the best way to
get one."
On a tour of Europe, one
doctor told him that in his
country, "it was unethical for a
specialist to see a patient who
hasn't been seen by a gp
(general practitioner)."
In recent years, "medical
students never met anyone in
general practice and the tenden-cy
was to go into a speciality."
The trend is reversing, Knapp
feels.
It's a matter of training, he
explained.
"Now in the past five or six
years, medical schools have
started p r o g r a m s in family
practice. Now the medical stu-cfent
sees family practice in
medical school.
Part of Buildup
"This is part of the build up of
comprehensive care and family
practice," he said in an in'er-view.
Discussing specifically the
Comprehensive Care program
at the local medical school,
Knapp said that in the third and
fourth years, students will be
assigned to various areas, in-cuding
specialities as medicine
and surgery.
"But, no matter what service
they are on, they will spend,
two, one-half days a week in the
Comprehensive Care Unit," he
explained.
The students will "see pa-tients
in office-like situations.
There will be examining rooms,
and! equipment similar to equip-ment
they would have in private
practice," such as laboratory
and radiology apparatus.
The patient that is initially
assigned to a student "will
remain his responsibility as long
as the student is in medical
school."
If the patient is referred to
surgery and comes back to the
Comprehensive Care Unit, "he
will still be the patient of the
medical student."
In other words, "this responsi-bility
will continue from the
beginning of the relationship
until the s'udent graduates."
While still in undergraduate
school, Knapp thought he would
become a general practitioner
"or a psychiatrist," but a
summer of working in a mental
hospital "cured! me of wanting
to become a psychiatrist."
He was in the private practice
of medicine in Pinedale, Wyo.,
from 1953 to 1959, where the
nearest hospital was 100 miles,
"and for three years I Mas the
only doctor in the country."
It was the kind of practice
where Knapp was called in the
middle of the night to come
treat a woman who "is very
bad."
When he arrived he was told
"you'd better hurry for the baby
is almost here."
Not only had he never seen
the patient before, but the baby
was premature and the light
plant went out on the ranch.
He has also done stints in a
Minneapolis physicians' practice
and in a rural Minnesota area.