Our Guest Speaker - Professor John P Collins

After completing surgical training in England, John was appointed as a surgical specialist at Middlemore Hospital and the University of Auckland. He served on committees at the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the New Zealand and the Australian Medical Councils and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. An injury to his left hand cut short his career as an operating surgeon following which he moved to Melbourne as head of education at Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and later to the University of Oxford where he was a Visiting Professor for several years. He recently completed a PhD in medical history. In 2024 he was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contributions to the management of breast cancer and to medical education.

The professionalisation of surgery and the foundation of patient-centered care.

This presentation will trace the history of surgery and surgeons from the monks and the barbers of the Middle Ages to the late nineteenth century. I will focus on the period between 1745 and 1858 during which surgery was developed from a manual craft into a scientific medical discipline, and surgeons transformed themselves from the manual workers of medicine into a professional medical elite. I will describe the experiences of patients who had surgery prior to the advent of anaesthesia and of others who consulted their surgeon by letter post. The recorded experiences of the surgeons themselves and what they considered as the desirable attributes of an ideal surgeon will also be addressed. I will conclude with the development of standards of behaviour and ethical codes to guide surgeons’ personal conduct and self-regulation