History of Medicine

  • Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Primitive Times

    people believed Illness and diseases were
    caused by evil spirits and demons
    or it was a punishment from the Gods, Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies, Herbs and plants like morphine and digitalis used as medicines, Trepanation or trephining (surgically removing a piece of bone from the skull), the average life span was around 20 years.
  • Period: 3000 BCE to 300 BCE

    Ancient Egypt

    Physicians were called priests, the first Health Records were recorded by the ancient Egyptians, Bloodletting or leeches were used as medical treatment Average life span was 20-30 years
  • Period: 1700 BCE to 220 BCE

    Ancient Chinese

    they believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body, they recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based mainly on the use of herbs, Used therapies such as acupuncture, started to search for medical reasons for illness, Average life span was 20-30 years
  • Period: 1200 BCE to 200 BCE

    Ancient Greece

    Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and other physicians
    were the first to observe the human body and the effects of disease this led to modern medical sciences.
    they believed illness was a result of natural causes
    Used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment
    Stressed diet, hygiene and exercise as ways to prevent disease
    the average human life span was 25-35 years
  • Period: 753 BCE to 410

    Ancient romans

    were the first to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers, the later hospitals were religious and charitable institutions in monasteries and convents, the first public health and sanitation systems made by building sewers and aqueducts. Galen established belief that the body was regulated by four body humors; blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile
    Life span was 25-35 years
  • Period: 400 to 800

    Dark ages

    Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited, prayer and divine intervention were used to treat illness & disease, monks and priests provide custodial care for sick people medications were mainly herbal mixtures
    the cause of disease was still blamed on circumstance, but with no understanding of it.
    Average life span was 20-30 years
  • Period: 800 to 1400

    Middle ages

    Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
  • 1100

    1100 AD

    Arabs began requiring physicians pass examinations and obtain licenses
  • Period: 1220 to 1255

    1220-1255 AD

    Medical Universities were established
    Average life span was 20-35 years
  • Period: 1346 to 1353

    1346-1353 AD

    Bubonic Plague killed 75% of population in Europe and Asia
    Major diseases included
    smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, the plaque, and malaria
  • Period: 1350 to

    Renaissance

    Rebirth of Science of Medicine
    Body Dissections led to increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
    Average life span was 30-40 years
    Disease cause STILL a mystery
  • 1440

    1440 AD

    Invention of printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared
  • Period: 1500 to

    1500's

    Ambroise Pare, a French surgeon, known as the Father of Modern Surgery established use of ligatures to stop bleeding
  • Period: 1500 to

    16th and 17th centuries

    Knowledge regarding the human body GREATLY increased
    Allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
    HUGE advancement
    Average life span 35-45 years
    Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
    Some enlightenment though due to microscope
  • 1543

    1543 AD

    the first anatomy book was published by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)
  • Period: to

    1600’s

    Apothecaries (early pharmacists) made, prescribed, and sold medications
  • 1670 AD

    Invention of the microscope
  • Period: to

    18th century

    Average life span 40-50 years
  • 1714 AD

    Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) created the first mercury thermometer
  • 1760 AD

    Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
  • 1778 AD

    John Hunter established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
  • 1798 AD

    Smallpox vaccine discovered
  • Period: to

    19th century

    Rapid advancements due to discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations
    Women became active participants in health care
    Average life span 40-60 years
  • 1816

    Invention of the stethoscope
  • 1860

    Formal training for nurses began
  • 1893

    First Open Heart Surgery
  • 1895

    X-Ray Machine Developed
  • Period: to

    20th Century

    ABO blood groups discovered
    Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
    New medications were developed
    Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
    Antibiotics developed to fight infections (penicillin)
    New machines developed such as the Kidney Dialysis Machine and Heart Lung Machine
    Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal conditions
    Structure of DNA discovered and research in gene therapy begins
  • Period: to

    20th century (continued)

    First Bone Marrow Transplant
    Initiated Embryonic Stem Cell Research
    Test tube babies
    First organ Transplants
    1960: Kidney
    1963: Liver
    1967: Heart
    1982: Artificial Heart
  • 1901

    ABO blood groups discovered
  • 1910

    Laparoscopic Surgery
    Minimal Invasive Surgery
  • Period: to

    20th Century Vaccines

    Diptheria – 1921
    Tuberculosis – 1925
    Pertussis – 1927
    Typhus – 1937
    Influenza – 1945
    Oral Polio – 1962
    Measles – 1963
    Mumps – 1967
    Rubella – 1970
    Chicken Pox – 1974
    Streptococcus Pneumonia – 1977
    Meningitis – 1978
    Hepatitis B – 1981
    Hepatitis A – 1992
    Lyme Disease – 1998
    Rotavirus - 1998
  • 1922

    Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
  • 1928

    Antibiotics developed to fight infections (penicillin)
  • 1943

    Kidney Dialysis Machine
  • 1953

    Heart Lung Machine and structure of DNA discovered and research in gene therapy begins
  • 1956

    First Bone Marrow Transplant
  • Period: to

    First Organ Transplants

    1960: Kidney
    1963: Liver
    1967: Heart
    1982: Artificial Heart
  • 1970's

    Targeted Cancer Therapies Interfere with the spread of cancer by blocking cells involved in tumor growth and Identify and kill the cancer cells
  • 1978

    Test tube babies
  • 1990

    Smoke Free Laws and a Decrease in 2nd Hand Smoke
  • 1996

    1996: Advances in HIV Medication Turned a “death sentence disease” into a manageable chronic disease
    – Normal Life Span
  • 1999

    Rapid advances in Stem Cell Research
    Re-Create lost/damaged tissue
  • Period: to

    21st century (up to 2015)

  • 2001

    The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In
  • 2003

    2003: Human Genome Project Completed
    Mapped out human diseases in an effort to get an handle on genetic and autoimmune diseases
  • 2005

    Face Transplants
  • Period: to

    21st century vaccines

    2006: HPV (Human Papillomavirus Vaccine)
    2015: Malaria
    2015: Ebola