History of Medicine- Natalia Orellana

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)
-relative isolation, Lack of written language
-rate of social cultural change
Average life span was 20 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
-Believed humans are a microcosm of larger universe
-Intro connected with nature and subject to it's forces

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
-Concept of a healthy mind in a healthy body
-Physical and mental well being
-important medical figures

Ancient Roman

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
-Provided treatment for soldiers
-Sterilize body equipment in boiling water before using

Dark Ages

400

-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
-Superstition crept into the beliefs about medicine
-Illness were cured by mixtures that were based on nature.

Middle Ages

800

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
-Monks and nuns ran hospitals in their monasteries
-Herbal remedies

Renaissance

1350

-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
-Advanced in human anatomy
-Blooding, leeches, purges

16th and 17th centuries

1500

-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
-Allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
-Average life span 35-45 years
-Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
-Some enlightenment though due to microscope
-A lot of inventions were made at that time ex: thermometer
-Discovered how blood circulates

18th Century

1700

-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
-There were asthenic and sthenic as disease
-Contagious disease

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
-Relied on symptomatic treatment
-Identify classify describe disease
-Vaccinations

20th century

1900

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
-Most rapid grwth in medical century

21st century

2000

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

Ancient Egyptian

3000

-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
-Advance knowledge of anatomy and surgery
-Treated disease for example: dental,gynecological, gastrointestinal