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WAMI (Medical Extension Program) records, 1972-1987

Overview of the Collection

Creator
WAMI Medical Program; Anderson, Guy Richard , 1918-2009
Title
WAMI (Medical Extension Program) records
Dates
1972-1987 (inclusive)
Quantity
23 cubic feet
Collection Number
UG 42
Summary
Office files, course files, quarterly reports and other publications of the WAMI Medical Extension Program (a cooperative program between the University of Washington Medical School and universities in Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho), office files concerning the undergraduate pre-medical, pre-dental program at the University of Idaho, and personal and research material of WAMI director Guy Anderson.
Repository
University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
University of Idaho Library
875 Perimeter Drive
MS 2350
Moscow, ID
83844-2350
Telephone: 2088850845
libspec@uidaho.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The WAMI (Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) Medical Extension Program is a unique program for decentralizing certain portions of the educational and training program of the University of Washington School of Medicine by allowing students to take their first year of medical school at selected universities in the four states; they then join their colleagues in Seattle for the remainder of the basic curriculum. At the conclusion of the first two years, the students enter the elective phase of their education which is predominantly clinical in nature. During this elective period the WAMI plan allows undergraduate medical students to receive a portion of their training at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a portion of their clinical education from physicians in the communities where the physicians live and practice, called Community Clinical Units.

A most important part of the University of Idaho-Washington State University medical education program is the preceptorship. In this program, beginning medical students spend 4 to 8 hours a week with local physicians, thus becoming acquainted with medical practice and procedures from the very beginning of their medical studies. As indicated by student evaluations, this is one of the most interesting and valuable parts of their first year of medical education.

Among the benefits of the program are providing greater opportunities for area residents to enter medical school by increasing the number of residents who are admitted to the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSM), increasing the number of primary care physicians trained at UWSM, redressing the maldistribution of physicians in the WAMI territory by attracting more physicians to areas of need, and bringing resources of the Medical Center in Seattle to communities in the WAMI states to be used for, among other things, the continuing education of physicians.

The University of Idaho and Washington State University program began in 1972 under the direction of Dr. Guy R. Anderson and Dr. Ronald J. Adkins as a cooperative effort. Ten medical students were enrolled at WSU and nine at the U of I for one semester. Students and faculty commuted the eight miles between campuses, classes being held on the Pullman campus in the morning and on the Moscow campus in the afternoon. The curriculum was tailored specifically to parallel that at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Operating costs were supported by subcontracts let to each school by the University of Washington under a major contract with the Bureau of Health Resources Development. Essential equipment items were provided through a grant from the Commonwealth Fund to the University of Washington.

Since 1972 the cooperative effort has continued to be successful, and special WAMI courses have been developed to cover the entire first year of medical education.

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Content Description

The papers of the WAMI Medical Extension Program span the years 1972 to 1987, with other papers in the collection dating back to 1954.

The material includes office files, course files, quarterly reports and other publications of the WAMI Program, office files concerning the undergraduate pre-medical, pre-dental program at the University of Idaho, and personal and research material of WAMI director Guy Anderson.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Description of Item], WAMI (Medical Extension Program) records, UG 42. Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The majority of the material in this archival group was in labeled folders in record storage boxes when received; the original headings and order were therefore retained during processing. No attempt was made to regularize filing anomalies, e.g., in someyears meetings are filed alphabetically by the name of the meeting or conference, and in other years the folders were grouped together under the heading "Meetings". Also the ATS-F satellite is filed under both A and S.

The Office Files are arranged chronologically by academic year, then alphabetically by subject within each year. Included in these files are office correspondence and memos, correspondence of individual faculty in the program, budgets, minutes of meetings, reports, class schedules, and other material concerning the WAMI program. Some years include photographs of class members and social activities.

The second series, Courses, contains class lists, course outlines, correspondence, evaluations, examinations, and handouts for courses taught as part of the WAMI curriculum. These materials are also arranged first by academic year, then by course number.

Series three contains quarterly reports and publications. The first seven folders contain only Idaho's portion of the reports; the next folders contain the entire reports including reports from the four extension universities, and copies of WAMI News. Also included in this series are reports on WAMI contracts III and IV, and scattered issues of WAMI News.

Material relating to the undergraduate pre-medical and pre-dental program is contained in the fourth series. Included are correspondence, minutes and reports of meetings, exams and handouts for Bacteriology 254, and information on medical colleges.

The final series contains personal papers of Dr. Guy Anderson, WAMI coordinator at the University of Idaho, including his research notes on snow molds dating from 1954-1971.

Requisitions and other financial transaction reports, routine requests for information on the WAMI program, duplicate material, and non-WAMI published items were removed from the collection, thus reducing the bulk of the collection by 9 cubic feet.

Acquisition Information

The Records of the WAMI medical program were transferred to the University of Idaho Library between May 1988 and August 1991.

Processing Note

This collection contains materials of a sensitive nature used for teaching medical education, which some may find objectionable or disturbing. These materials are a product of a time and place in history and should be viewed within their historical and educational context. To maintain historical accuracy, the materials appear as they were originally created to serve as historical evidence of the social mindsets, occurrences, behaviors, and norms of their time. For more information on how we treat archival materials with offensive or disturbing content, please see the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Offensive Content Policy.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Medical education
  • Palouse River Valley (Idaho and Wash.)

Geographical Names

  • Idaho

Finding aid prepared by Judith Nielsen
1993

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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