VPRS 17389 Extern Case Book, Midwifery Department

Full description

This series comprises volumes containing cases recorded by extern obstetrics students at the Royal Women's Hospital (VA 1241).

The case books were written up by medical students who as part of their training in obstetrics at the Women's Hospital attended home births accompanied by a midwife from the District Nursing Service. The work was mostly carried out in the inner city slums where their patients were poor and frequently living in squalid conditions. The case books record as much about the student's response to unfamiliar circumstances as they do about the women whose babies they delivered.

It is possible that this series properly belongs to an Extern Midwifery Department, but there has not been sufficient research to establish that such a department existed. The Extern Case Books are therefore attributed to the Midwifery Department.

The full date range of the series is unknown and two volumes are missing from the remaining set. The missing volumes cover the periods November 1921 to July 1922 and June 1925 to June 1926.

Related Series:
VPRS 17401 Students' Extern Cases Record Book 1940 to 1951
Although some details of the delivery are given, it appears to be more a register of the students' attendance than a case book.

A description of these records and the way in which the Externs carried out their work can be found in "Sex and Suffering: women's health and a women's hospital" by the historian Dr Janet McCalman.

Series History:
Prior to transfer to Public Record Office Victoria, the records in this series were maintained as part of the RWH Archives in RWH series number 0318.