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Period: 500 to Dec 31, 1300
Middle Ages
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Jan 1, 1000
Barber Surgeons
Barber surgeons were popular because they could perform procedures like blood letting, teeth pulling, cupping, etc. They would do standard barber things as well, like shaves and haircuts. This is where the iconic barber pole came from. -
Jan 1, 1200
How were the sick treated
The sick were mainly “cured“ by prayers. Other methods blood letting, purging with laxatives, change of diet, herbal methods, etc. All of these proved to be very ineffective as 1/3 of Europe got wiped out by the plague. -
Mar 29, 1228
Hospitals
The middle ages is when the first hospitals came around. The concept of patients being where doctors and treatment were available 24/7. -
Jan 1, 1298
Common Diseases
Some common diseases for this time period were dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, chicken pox, measles, and the black plague. -
Feb 25, 1298
John Snow
Cholera was a very widespread disease in Europe. It was caused by contaminated drinking water due to poor and compact living conditions. This was discovered by John Snow. He connected the dots between people getting their water, where they were getting it, and when they died. -
Period: Jan 1, 1301 to
Renaissance
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Jan 1, 1302
Re-birth
Renaissance means re-birth. Wealth and education triggered this re-birth. With this new start came many new techniques and understandings of the body. -
Jan 1, 1343
Black death
This is when the black plague was really in its prime. It was carried by fleas on rats. It caused high fevers and painful sores all over your body. It could kill in a matter of days. It wiped out around 1/3 of Europe. -
Jan 1, 1457
Anatomy
In the Renaissance artists would draw pictures of the human body and integrated elements of the human anatomy which led to more advanced surgical procedures. -
Jan 1, 1500
Leonardo da Vinci
While he is a famous artist, he also studied the human and reportedly dissected over 30 bodies to try and understand them. He also made many discoveries outside of medicine that have helped shape the world we live in today. -
New techniques
In the Renaissance period they got rid of harmful procedures that harmed the body rather than cure it, such as blood letting to rebalance the bodys humors. They -
Period: to
Industrial Revolution
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Spread of Disease
Due to the rapid growth of towns, these were often breeding grounds for the spread of deadly diseases because of the amount of people living in such a close proximity. -
Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Established the correlation between clinical symptoms and post mortem findings. His discoveries formed a new attitude towards specific diagnostic and surgical interventions. -
Municipal Corporations Act
The council was able to collect rates to pay for street lighting, sewage disposal and fresh water. -
Anesthesia
Dr. Morton and John Collins Warren performed the first successful surgical procedure using anesthesia. -
Sanitation
Most surgeries were done in dirty conditions and tools were never cleaned which also led to the further spread of disease and infection -
Period: to
Modern World
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Paul Ehrlich
Ehrlich did some work on lead poisoning and found out the tissues had selective affinities to certain chemicals. -
Skin Grafts
Harold Gillies founded a plastic surgery and popularized a type of pedicle skin graft. It is where the skin and tissues are temporarily left for nourishment from where the graft was taken. Many other techniques have since been borrowed from plastic surgery. -
Vaccines
The very first vaccine occurred in the late 1930s against yellow fever. However, the first relatively vaccine was produced to protect against Influenza. The next to follow was made by Jonas Salk against polio. -
Biomedical Engineering
Due to advances in biomedical engineering, new ways were found to probe the body in a noninvasive way. One of those methods being the ultrasound. -
Penicillin
Organisms began to develop a resistance to the antibiotic penicillin and does not work against every micro-organism. In this time scientists discriminated the use of the medication and searched for new varieties of it. -
Period: to
21st Century
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Human Genome Project
This is helping scientists identify the specific genes that can cause a disease and in turn helping find better treatments. In 2003 they had completed a draft sequence of the human genome. -
Face Transplants
The first face transplant done in the US was done on Connie Culp. There had been a few prior to this in other countries. They re sculpt the cheek and jaw bones and are able to give then new noses, lips and teeth. -
Artificial Organs
With advancements in 3-D printing we are able to take steps towards making artificial organs. It has started with being able to regenerate cells for burn victims. However, with further testing there is many new possibilities. -
Bionic Limbs
Because of advancements with prosthesis, amputees are now able to use bionic limbs that can be controlled and positioned through an app on an iPad. -
Robotic Surgery
Robotic Surgery is used in mildly invasive procedures to increase accuracy. With more advancements it can so be combined with augmented reality to give surgeons more information while they are operating.
