The History of Health Care Principles of Health Science

Think about some of your family’s home remedies for illnesses. Example: drinking hot tea with lemon for a sore throat

How effective are these home remedies? How safe do you think these remedies are?

Primitive Times: 4000-3000 BC Average person’s life span was 20 yrs. Humans believed that supernatural spirits (such as demons) caused illness and diseases & only way to heal was for a tribal witch doctor to perform ceremonies Trepanation: Boring a hole in the skull to treat epilepsy, headaches, and insanity.

Primitive Times Herbs and plants were used as medicine such as: Digitalis (heart) Belladonna & Atropine (muscle spasms) Morphine (pain)

Think for a moment about this question and then we will discuss with our table partners: If you had a stomach ache and chills during Primitive Times, would you tell someone? Why or why not?

Ancient Egyptians: 3000 BC-300 BC Average life span 20-30 yrs. Earliest humans to keep accurate health records Called upon the gods to heal them when faced with diseases Physicians were priests who studied medicine and surgery in temple medical schools First to practice embalming and used leeches

Ancient Egyptians: Imhotep was believed to be the first physician.

Ancient Chinese: 1700 BC-220 Ad Average life span 20-30 yrs. Had an inadequate knowledge of the body structure due to the prohibiting of dissection (it was against their religion) Were the first to use acupuncture.

Ancient Greek Medicine (1200BC-200BC) Average life span 25-35 yrs. Greeks are the first to study the cause of diseases & illnesses Research helped eliminate superstitions Believed that unsanitary practices were associated with the spread of disease

Ancient Greek Medicine Hippocrates is called the father of medicine Developed an organized way to observe the human body without dissection took careful notes of signs/symptoms of diseases Created a high standard of ethics the “Hippocratic Oath” which is the basis for today’s medical ethics

Ancient Roman Medicine (753BC-410AD) Average life span 25-35 yrs. Beginning of public health and sanitation systems Aquaducts to carry clean water to the cities and sewers to carry away waste Public baths with filtering systems to help prevent disease

Ancient Romans

Ancient Roman sewer system

Dark Ages (400-800 A.D.) Average life span 20-30 yrs. Study of medicine prohibited Life and death basically in God’s hands

Middle Ages (800-1400 A.D.) Life span 20 to 35 years Physicians begin studying at medical universities Terrible epidemic Bubonic plague which killed ¾ of Europe & Asia’s population

Bubonic plaque (black death): caused by rodents and bacteria

Middle Ages (800-1400 A. D.) Realization that diseases are contagious Quarantine laws passed Arabs begin requiring that physicians pass exams and obtain licenses to practice

Renaissance Medicine (1350-1650 A.D.) Average life span 30-40 yrs. Universities and medical schools for research become well known, such as Oxford & Cambridge in England First anatomy book is published by Andrew Vesalius Invention of the printing press

Renaissance Medicine (1350-1650 A.D.) Better understanding of anatomy and physiology is due to dissections of the body Artists Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci used dissection in order to draw the human body more realistically Circulatory system in the lungs is learned

16th & 17th Century Average life span 35-45 yrs. Fallopian tubes and tympanic membrane in the ear discovered by Gabriel Fallopius

Microscope invented by Anton van Leewenjoek William Harvey described blood circulation in the heart Eustachian tube discovered (tube from ear to throat)

18th Century: 1700-1799 Average life span 40-50 yrs. Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccination Joseph Priestly discovered the element oxygen Gabriel Fahrenheit created first mercury thermometer

18th Century Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals John Hunter, an English surgeon, established scientific surgical procedures, introduced tube feedings

What is infection control, and have you practiced any infection control today?

19th Century: 1800-1899 Average life span 40-60 yrs. Ignaz Semmelweiss His research led to the importance of hand washing to avoid spread of pathogens Louis Pasteur discovered that microorganisms cause disease, pasteurizing milk kills bacteria, and created rabies vaccine

19th Century Joseph Lister was the first doctor to use antiseptic during surgery to prevent infections Robert Koch is called the Father of Microbiology because he identified the germ causing TB

19th Century: 1800-1899 Wilhelm Roentgen discovered Roentgenograms (X-rays) First successful blood transfusion was performed Stethoscope was invented 1819 Anesthesia such as nitrous oxide, ether, and chloroform was discovered

19th Century Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. Florence Nightingale started the professional education of nurses. This opened the first nursing school and established sanitary nursing units during Crimean War

20th Century: 1900-1999 First kidney transplant 1950’s First successful heart transplant 1968 First liver transplant 1963 Crick and Watson described DNA structure and how it carries genetic info 1953

20th Century Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine Sigmund Freud: His studies formed the basis for psychology and psychiatry

20th Century Birth control was approved by the FDA in the 60’s. First artificial heart implant 1982 First test tube baby (Louise Brown) was born in England in the 1970’s. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a disease in the 1980’s. A sheep was cloned 1997 Average human lifespan is 60 to 70 years

What 20th century discovery in medicine do you think was the most important? Why? What medical discovery are you most hopeful to see by the year 2020?