-
4000 BCE
Primitive times
-Illness and diseases were caused by evil spirits and Gods
-Doctors treated illness with medicines
-Herbs and plants used as medicines
-Trepanation or trephining
-Average life span was 20 years -
3000 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
-Physicians were priests
-Health Records were first recorded by the ancient
Egyptian
-Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
-Average life span was 20-30 years -
1700 BCE
Ancient Chinese
-Believed in the need to treat the whole body curing the spirit and nourish the body
-Used therapies such as acupuncture
-Began to search for medical reasons for illness
-Average life span was 20-30 years -
1200 BCE
Ancient Greeks
-Hippocrates(Father of Medicine) and other physicians
-First to observe the human body and the effects of disease
-Believed illness is a result of natural causes
-Stressed diet, hygiene and exercise as ways to prevent
disease
-Average of live span was 25-35 years -
753 BCE
Ancient Romans
-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 -
400
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
-Average life span was 20-30 years
-Disease Cause still blamed on circumstance, but no
understanding -
800
Middle Ages
-Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and
Romans
-1100: Arabs began requiring physicians pass examinations
and obtain licenses
-1346-1353: Bubonic Plague killed 75% of 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 -
1400
Renaissance
-Rebirth of Science of Medicine
-Body Dissections led to increased understanding of
anatomy and physiology
-1440: Invention of 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 -
16 and 17 Centuries
-Knowledge regarding the human body GREATLY increased
-1500’s: Ambroise Pare, a 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
-Cause of disease still not known – many people died from
infections
-Some enlightenment though due to microscope -
18 Century
-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 -
19 Century
-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 -
20 Century
-1901: ABO blood groups discovered
-Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
-New medications were developed
-1922: Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
-1928: Antibiotics developed 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 -
20 Century part 2
-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 -
20 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