History of Medicine

Primitive Times

4000 BCE

-Illness and diseases were
-Caused by evil spirits and demons
-a punishment from the Gods
-Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies
-Herbs and plants used as medicines (morphine and digitalis)
-Trepanation or trephining (surgically removing a piece of bone from the skull)
-Average life span was 20 years

Ancient Egyptians

3000 BCE

-Physicians were priests
-Health Records were first recorded by the ancient
Egyptians
-Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
-Average life span was 20-30 years

Ancient Chinese

1700 BCE

-Believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body
-Recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based

mainly on the use of herbs
-Used therapies such as acupuncture
-Began to search for medical reasons for illness
-Average life span was 20-30 years

Ancient Greeks

1200 BCE

-Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and other physicians
-First to observe the human body and the effects of
disease – led to modern medical sciences.
-Believed illness is 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
-Average life span was 25-35 years

Ancient Romans

753 BCE

-First to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers
-Later hospitals were religious and charitable institutions in monasteries and convents
-First public health and sanitation systems 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

Dark Ages

400

-Emphasis on saving the soul, and the 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
-Average life span was 20-30 years
-Disease Cause still blamed on circumstance, but no understanding

Middle Ages

800

-Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
-1100: Arabs began requiring physicians to pass examinations and obtain licenses
-1346-1353: Bubonic Plague killed 75% of the population in Europe and Asia
-Major diseases included smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, the plaque, and malaria
-1220-1255: Medical Universities were established
-Average life span was 20-35 years

Renaissance

1350

-Rebirth of Science of Medicine
-Body Dissections led to an increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
-1440: Invention of the printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared
-1543: First anatomy book was published by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)
-Average life span was 30-40 years
-Disease cause STILL a mystery

16th and 17th Century

1500

-Knowledge on the human body GREATLY increased
-1500’s: Ambroise Pare, French surgeon, known as the Father of Modern Surgery established use of ligatures to stop bleeding
-1600’s: Apothecaries (early pharmacists) made, prescribed, and sold medications
-1670: Invention of the microscope
-Allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
-HUGE advancement
-Average life span 35-45 years
-Cause of disease still unknown- many died from infections
-microscope did help a little

18th Century

1700

-1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) created the first mercury thermometer
-1760: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
-1778: John Hunter established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
-1798: Smallpox vaccine discovered
-Average life span 40-50 years

19th Century

1800

-Rapid advancements due to discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations
-1895: X-Ray Machine Developed
-1893: First Open Heart Surgery
-Infection control developed once microorganisms were
associated with disease
-1816: Invention of the stethoscope
-1860: Formal training for nurses began
-Women became active participants in health care
-Average life span 40-60 years

20th Century

1900

-1901: ABO blood groups discovered
-Found white blood cells protect against
disease
-New medications were developed
-1922: Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
-1928: Antibiotics made to fight infections
(penicillin)
-New machines developed
-1943: Kidney Dialysis Machine
-1953: Heart Lung Machine
-Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure
once fatal conditions
-1953: Structure of DNA discovered and research in gene therapy begins

20th Century (Continued)

1956

-1956: First Bone Marrow Transplant
-Initiated Embryonic Stem Cell Research
-1978: Test tube babies
-Organ Transplants
-1960: Kidney
-1963: Liver
-1967: Heart
-1982: Artificial Heart

20th Century Vaccines

1998

-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

20th-21st Century- Top 10

1999

-1910: Laparoscopic Surgery
-Minimal Invasive Surgery
-1970’s: Targeted Cancer Therapies
-Interfere with the spread of cancer by blocking cells

involved in tumor growth
-Identify and kill the cancer cells
-1990: Smoke Free Laws
-Decrease in 2nd Hand Smoke
-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

21st Century

2001

-2001: The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In
-2003: Human Genome Project Completed
-Mapped out human diseases in an effort to get an handle
on genetic and autoimmune diseases
-2005: Face Transplants
-Vaccines
-2006: HPV (Human Papillomavirus Vaccine)
-Prevent Cervical Cancer
-2015: Malaria
-2015: Ebola