History of Healthcare

Primitive

• Illness caused by evil spirits / demons• Herbs / Plants used as medicine• Average life span = 20 years old• Trepanation – Boring a hole into the skull– Treated headaches, epilepsy, & insanity– Used up into the 1800’s

Primitive Time PeriodTrepanation

Ancient Egyptians

• Physicians were priests who studied medicine• Healing came from calling on the “gods”• Average life span = 20 – 30 years old• Body has “channels”• If “channels” are clogged, bloodletting used

BloodlettingUsed up into the 1800’s

Ancient Chinese

• Searched for medical reasons for illness• Believed the need to treat the whole body

(holistic care)• Average life span = 20 – 30 years old• Treatments used – Acupuncture– Moxibustion (heated herb)

Acupuncture MoxibustionStill used today; considered alternative medicine

Ancient Greek

• Modern medical science begins (observing the body; effects of disease)

• Diseases / Infections were a result of natural causes

• Stressed diet & cleanliness• Average life span = 25 – 35 years old• Treatments

Art therapy, Herbal therapy

Hippocrates

– Founder of Greek Medical School– Greek physician (Father of Medicine)– Developed the Oath of Medical Ethics– First to describe symptoms of pneumonia– Believed the body must be treated as a whole– Believed thoughts, feelings, emotions came from

the brain – not the heart

Ancient Romans

• Public sanitation & health systems• Treatment = diet, exercise, & medication• Average life span = 25 – 35 years old

Claudius Galen

• Physician (after Hippocrates) in Rome• 4 humor theory (blood, phlegm, black bile,

yellow bile)• Studied dissections & documented his

research• Appointed to be the personal surgeon of

Marcus Aurelius

Dark Ages

• Study of medicine prohibited• Emphasis back on prayer to treat illness• Average life span = 20 – 30 years

• Occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire; Catholic church held power

Middle Ages

• Renewed interest in medicine• Physicians learned in medical universities• Average life span = 20 – 35 years old• Bubonic plague killed 75% of the population– Caused by a bacteria carried in fleas, mice, ect.– S&S = fever, weakness, bloody feces/cough,

swollen glands– Tx = Antibiotics

Renaissance

• Rebirth of the science of medicine• Dissection of the body enhanced• Average life span = 30 – 40 years old• Michael Servetus– Described the circulatory system in the lungs– Explained how digestion is a source of heat

16th & 17th Century

• Cause of disease still unknown• Average of life span = 35 – 45 years old• Invention of the microscope• Ambroise Pare– Father of Surgery (bind arteries to stop bleeding)

• Gabriel Fallopius– Identified fallopian tubes– Described the tympanic membrane in the ear

16th & 17th Century

• More historical figures

• Anton van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope

• Bartolomeo Eustachio identified the Eustachian tube leading from the ear to the throat

18th Century

• Average life span = 40 – 50 years old• Inventions– Gabriel Fahrenheit = thermometer

– Ben Franklin = bifocals

– Edward Jenner = smallpox vaccine

19th Century

• Average life span = 40 – 60 years• Historical figures– Clara Barton = Founder of American Red Cross

– Joseph Lister = Disinfectants & antiseptics during surgery

– Dorthea Dix = Reformed mental hospitals & prisons

19th Century

– Florence Nightingale = Opened first nursing school; Reformed nursing

– Gregory Mendel = Established patterns of heredity

– Louis Pasteur = Pasteurized milk

19th Century

– Robert Koch = Proved microorganisms cause disease

– William Roentgen = Discovered X-rays

20th Century

• Average life span = 60 – 70 years old• Inventions– Genetic engineering began– First successful heart transplant– First pacemaker (70’s)– HIV / AIDS identified (80’s)– Jonas Salk = Developed polio vaccine– Alexander Flemming = Discovered penicillin

21st Century• Average life span = 90 – 100 years old

• Potential improvements– HIV/AIDS research; cancer research– Nerve regenerated

• New drugs– Cholesterol– Alzheimer’s– Diabetes