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Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE
Early Beginnings
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3900 BCE
Diseases Caused?
Evil Spirits -
3600 BCE
Treatments?
Prayer, Blood Letting, Amputation -
3100 BCE
Medicine Used Today…
Digitalis (for heart), Quinine (Digestion), Morphine (Pain), Belladonna and atropine (Digestion) -
Period: 2999 BCE to
Ancient Times
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2900 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
Found helpful to keep health records to corrilaqte patient conditions
Physicians (priests)
Used medicines to heal diseases, splinted fractures, and bloodletting(with leeches) -
1900 BCE
Ancient Chinese
First to use acupuncture for healing therapies
Devolved into advanced practice, still used today/ -
900 BCE
Ancient Greeks
First to study cause of disease by nature instead of just spiritual causes.
Religious customs did not allow dissections.
Hypocrites in Ancient Greece wrote the “Oath of Hypocrites” This standard is and was an outline of today’s medical ethics. -
100
Ancient Romans
Romans built sanitization systems sewers (to carry off waste), and public baths containing filtering systems.
To better organize medical care, Romans kept a room in each house for the ill, and sent medical equipment/physicians along with armies in order to care for wounded soldiers.
Romans then started to develop hospitals. Hospitals still include the same characteristics today such as…
- Getting paid by Roman government
- Took measures like “death masks” to prevent infection/outbreak -
Period: 400 to 800
Dark Age
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500
Stopped Study of Medicine, Why?
Over a 1000 year period, medical science stopped and was practiced only monasteries and convents after the Roman Empire was conquered by nomads from the north (Huns) -
700
How did They Treat Disease?
Treatment care was custodial (meaning rather than healing an illness they protected against the illness). Primary examples include prayer and herbal mixes as medicine. -
Period: 800 to 1400
Middle Age
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1100
Epidemics
Epidemics, (a disease affecting many at one time) caused millions of deaths during the Middle Ages. These uncontrolled diseases included syphilis, tuberculosis, small pox, and Bubonic plague (which 6 million by itself). -
Period: 1350 to 1400
Renaissance
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1450
Rebirth of Medicine?
During the Renaissance, the desire to learn and devolved scientific progress was reborn. Examples include:Building new medical buildings and schools for research
Dissection for Study
Greater access to knowledge for research through books (from publishing and printing press) -
Period: 1501 to
16th and 17th Centuries
During this time period, significant medical advancements were made by various scientists including… -
1515
Leonardo da Vinci
Recorded/ Studied the deception and anatomy of the human body. -
1550
Gabriele Fallopius
Discover fallopian tubes in the female anatomy. -
1563
Bartolommeo Eustacio
Discovered the Eustachian Tube (tube that connects from your ear to throat) -
William Harvey
Made advancements in the branch of physiology such as describing the circulation of blood and the pumping of the heart. -
Antoine von Leeuwenhoek
Invented the microscope (now can study germs that aren’t visible)
Esablished the existence of life beyond the naked eye
Found/Identified the bacteria that causes tooth decay -
Apothecaries
Apothecaries (someone who prepares and sells medicine/drugs), who worked in early pharmacies devolved in the 16th and 17th century, were now starting to trade different drugs and spices with one another. -
Period: to
18th Century
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Benjamin Franklin
Discovered bifocals (both near sided and far sided) in eyeglass lenses and the idea that colds can be passed from one person to another. -
Medical Students Learning
During the 18th Century many medical discoveries were made due to the vast and wide range of student studying medicine. Students now attend lectures, observed bedside patients, and dissected cadavers. With this education even more new medical discoveries were made. -
Joseph Priestly
Discovered the element oxygen’
Observed that plants refresh oxygen deprived air (respiration) -
Edward Jenner
Saved millions of lives after developing a vaccine for smallpox
Jenner’s discovery led to preventative healthcare and other immunizations in public health. -
Rene Laennec
Invented the stethoscope (made of wood at the time) that allowed physicians the ability to hear a patients heart and lungs. This allowed doctors to determine if disease was present. -
Period: to
19th and 20th Centuries
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Ignaz Semmelweis
Identified that the cause of childbed fever (when are women dies after giving birth) was cased by physicians no washing their hands or changing their aprons before assisting with the birth, infecting the mother, and getting her sick. -
Florence Nightingale
Advocated for better sanitation, construction, and management in hospitals. She primarily advocated for better protection and training for nurses through the Nightingale fund that funded these causes.
Designed a special hospital ward to improve the quality of care for patients. -
Louis Pasteur
Proved microorganisms cause disease.
Implemented Pasteurization (heating milk to slow the spread of bacteria)
Created vaccine for rabies (1885) -
Dmitri Ivanovski
Discovered some microorganisms that cause disease can’t be discovered under a microscope. (Viruses)
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Joseph Lister
First to use carbolic acid on wound to prevent bacteria that causes infections.
First doctor to use antiseptic during surgery on an incision. -
Ernst von Bergmann
Developed asepsis (method to keep an area germ free during surgery) -
Robert Koch
Introduced the idea of sanitation to prevent disease.
Developed the culture plate method to identify pathogens
Isolated tuberculosis causing bacteria -
Paul Ehrlich
Found and developed a chemical treatment to cure syphilis. -
Wilhelm Roentgen
Allowed doctors to see a patient's injuries inside the body using his invention of the X-ray. -
Anesthesia
Early forms of anesthesia consisted of herbs, hashish, alcohol, and even choking.
During the 19th and 20th centuries nitrous oxide, ether, and chloroform were discovered and used as forms of anesthesia. -
Sir Alexander Fleming
Discovered that penicillin could kill key bacterias in conditions such as pneumonia, gonorrhea, and blood poisoning -
Sigmund Freud
Determined the mind worked together with the body and what parts of the mind were conscious and unconscious. (Led to more discoveries with psychosomatic illness ) -
Gerhard Domagk
Discovered medications effective in killing bacteria (sulfonamide compounds) -
Jonas Salk
Found that dead polio virus would grant immunity to poliomyelitis. -
Albert Sabin
Made a live polio virus vaccine (still used today) -
Francis Crick and James Watson
Contributed strongly to molecular advances in biology by creating models of how DNA replicates itself and the coding of hereditary information. -
Christian Barnard
Performed the first successful transplant. -
Ben Carson
Made significant advances in separating Siamese twins and performing various surgeries on the brain to stop seizures. -
AI with Mammograms
Just recently healthcare workers have been implementing AI in medicine. For example, reviewing mammograms using AI reviews them 30x faster and with almost 100% accuracy (reduces need for biopsies) -
Period: to
21st Century
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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The ARR act, signed into law by Barrack Obama and the 111th congress helped standardize electronic health records for increased patient safety and easier communication between healthcare systems. -
FDA Approves First Prick-Free Blood Sugar Monitor
In the past, type 1 diabetics had to monitor their blood sugar in order to determine what they eat and adjust insulin levels accordingly. This involved at least 2 finger pricks a day to accommodate. Thus, prick free blood sugar monitors are a popular option considering they are significantly easier to keep patient records, increase patient comfort/convenience , and on the go. -
At Home COVID 19 Testing
During the COVID 19 pandemic, the CDC advised Americans to stay at home during 2020, thus at home COVID 19 tests were created and administered for rapid results. -
Increasing Use in Telehealth Technologies
For citizens who don’t have immediate access to certain medical services, or need a simple, quick way to connect with a provider.
Use of Telehealth examples include text messaging to answer patient questions, video call with a provider, etc.
Became especially popular during and after the COVID19 Pandemic.