History of Health Care

Primitive Human Beings

Egyptians Greeks Romans

Dark & Middle Ages Renaissance

History of Health Care

Health care has developed and changed throughout history

Knowing the history will help you understand: current procedures, philosophies

Today’s achievements in medicine could not have occurred without the trials and errors of early medicine

Early Beginnings5000 years ago

Had no electricity, few tools and poor shelterProtected themselves from predators and find foodSUPERSTITIOUS:

Believed that illness and disease were caused by supernatural spirits

Tribal doctors performed ceremonies to exorcise the evil spirits

Early BeginningsThe primitive human beings used plants and herbs as medicine:

Chewed on the foxglove plant to strengthen or slow heartbeat (intravenously)

The bark of the cinchona tree to control fever, relieve muscle spasms and prevent malaria

Morphine came from opium poppy to relieve pain

Medicine in Ancient TimesEGYPTIANS

Kept accurate health recordsSuperstitious and called upon the Gods to heal themLearned to identify certain diseasesLearned the art of splinting (pg. 291)

Medicine in Ancient TimesGREEKS

Studied the cause of diseaseKept records on what they observedHelped eliminate superstitionReligious custom did not allow bodies to be dissected

Medicine in Ancient TimesHIPPOCRATES (469-377 B.C.)

Father of medicineObservation of the external body – A&PKept careful notes of signs & symptoms of many diseasesSupernatural forces did not cause disease

Medicine in Ancient Times

The Greeks observed and measured the effects of disease

Founded that disease was caused by a lack of sanitation

Medicine in Ancient TimesROMANS

Learned from the Greeks and developed a sanitation system

Brought clean water into their cities

Built sewers to carry off waste

Built public baths

Medicine in Ancient TimesROMANS

First to organize medical care

Sent medical equipment and physicians with their armies to care for the wounded soldiers

Established what we now call hospitals

Roman physicians kept a room in their houses for the ill

Wore death masks

The spice filled-beaks believed to protect them from infection and bad odors

The Dark (A.D. 400-800) and Middle Ages (A.D. 800-1400)

The Roman Empire was conquered by the Huns (nomads from the north)

The study of medicine stopped for a period of 1,000 years

Terrible epidemics caused millions of deaths

Bubonic Plague (60 mil) Diphtheria Tuberculosis

Smallpox Syphilis

The Dark (A.D. 400-800) and Middle Ages (A.D. 800-1400)

Medicine was practiced only in convents-Nuns and monasteries-MonksChurch believed that life and death were in the hands of GodMonks and Nuns had no interest in how the body functionedHerbs were still used and care was custodial

The Renaissance (A.D. 1350-1650)

The

Rebirth

of

Learning

Medicine

The Renaissance (A.D. 1350-1650)

Universities and medical schools were built for research

The Renaissance (A.D. 1350-1650)

The search began for new ideas about disease rather than accepting disease as the will of God

The Renaissance (A.D. 1350-1650)

The acceptance of dissection of the body for study

The Renaissance (A.D. 1350-1650)

Greater access to knowledge was developed by publishing books from the research that was recorded

Vocabulary Terms

Era Intravenously Monasteries

Predators Accurate Custodial

Superstitious Observation Dissection

Exorcise Convents