Harvey Cushing's Wanderjahr (1900-1901)

Abstract

Harvey Cushing's 14-month Wanderjahr had a profound effect on his subsequent personal career, which in turn ushered in the modern age of American neurosurgery. From July 1900 to August 1901, he traveled to European neurosurgical centers in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. His excursion happened at a crucial moment in his trajectory; it was built on his existing foundation of Halstedian surgical training and occurred at a time when interest in the special field of neurological surgery was emerging. The research and clinical experiences on his journey-good and bad-undoubtedly informed his fledgling neurosurgical practice. We present a concise account of Harvey Cushing's time in Europe that consolidates accounts from Cushing's travel journals, biographers, and other neurosurgeons. This article highlights tensions in prior works and reveals new insights into the transformative nature of his Wanderjahr. Furthermore, we contextualize his travels and achievements within the broader transformation of American medical education at the turn of the 20th century to elucidate how Europe influenced American medicine. We briefly consider parallel benefits of Harvey Cushing's Wanderjahr and modern domestic or international training opportunities and present potential areas of implementation.

Keywords: Away rotation; Europe; Harvey Cushing; International; Residency; Wanderjahr.

Figure 1.

Sketches of Riva-Rocci’s new blood pressure apparatus from “Harvey Cushing’s Journal from Travel Abroad, 1900–1901.” (From “Harvey Cushing’s Journal from Travel Abroad, 1900–1901.” Online Exhibits@Yale, accessed January 29, 2020, http://exhibits.library.yale.edu/document/10992. Reprinted with permission from Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library.)