History Of Medicine

Question 1

Prehistoric Medicine: 100,000 - 10,000 BC

Answer 1

• 100,000- 75,000 BC- homosapeins have disorganized camp fire sites
• 50,000 onwards- fire became centrally located, the dead were ceremonial buried at the periphery away from dead animals…hygiene

Question 2

Healthcare benefits of burning dead away from the population

Answer 2

Less infections

Question 3

Extinction of neandathrals

Answer 3

Hunting big prey for long time, Homo sapiens developed snare that allowed them to hunt small prey

Question 4

Ancient Egyptians

Answer 4

Had 25 commandments in the book of the dead
Talks about taking care of the environment
Idea of hygiene and taking care of others
Announcements about alcohol (beer was popular) –> thinking about public health

Question 5

Ancient Rome

Answer 5

Realize that waste is creating disease and infection
Created aqueducts for fresh water and sewers for the waster –> allowed the city to reach 1 million people –> after empire fell, these concepts were lost

Question 6

Dhanvantari

Answer 6

Physician of the gods

Appears in Vedas and Puranas

Question 7

Sekhmet

Answer 7

Egypt- Warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing

Depicted as lioness

Question 8

Wu Tao

Answer 8

Lived in the Song Dynasty

Credited with performing medical miracles

Question 9

Hippocrates

Answer 9

Observations of disease and its effect

Credited with writing about preventative medicine

Question 10

4 Humors of Hippocratic Medicine

Answer 10

Blood- sanguine –> Air
Phlegm –phlegmatic –> water
Black bile- melancholic –> earth
Yellow bile- Choleric –> Fire

Question 11

Which of the humors was considered dominant?

Answer 11

Blood

Question 12

Medicine 10000 BC to 1500 AD

Answer 12

Associated heavily with religion, prayers, herbs and often wine

Question 13

Black Death

Answer 13

Caused by a bacterium

Estimated to have killed 30-60% of Europe’s population

Question 14

Andreas Vesalius

Answer 14

Published book of the fabric of the human body –> developed the use of technical drawings

Question 15

William Harvey

Answer 15

First person to describe in detail what the systemic circulation was

Question 16

Edward Jenner

Answer 16

Found out that if you caught cow pox it would prevent you from catching small pox

Question 17

Florence Nightingale

Answer 17

First nurse to nurse the injured (instead of just cleaning)

Set up nurses training school

Question 18

Public Health Act 1848 Victorian

Answer 18

The public health act’s aim was to improve local conditions in local town.

Make streets cleaner

Question 19

Introduction of NHS

Answer 19

Aneurin Bevan bought the Health Service

Question 20

Discovery of Penicillin 1923

Answer 20

Discovered by Alexander Fleming

Question 21

1910 Flexner Report

Answer 21

First time medical schools were reviews and national standards set

Repeated reviews became the new norm

Recommended a high school education and at least 2 years of college level or university science for pre med

Medical schools should be 4 years in duration: 2 years basic science and 2 clinical

For profit schools should be closed or incorporated into universities

Question 22

Tuskegee Syphilis Research

Answer 22

Researched the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural black men in Alabama under the guarantee of receiving life long free health care from the US government

Question 23

Experimental Design of Syphilis Study

Answer 23

Tuskegee University- historically black college
600 impoverished black men
399 had previously contracted syphilis before the study began
201 did not have the disease

Men were given free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance for participation

Question 24

What happened after funding was lost for the syphilis study?

Answer 24

The study continued without informing men they would never be treated

Infected men weren’t told they had the infection and none were treated with penicillin even after the antibiotic became proven for the treatment of syphilis

Question 25

Controversy around syphilis study

Answer 25

Researchers failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure

Lead to IRB approval, informed consent, communication of diagnosis, an accurate reporting of test results

Question 26

Modern Medicine: 1919-1939 (post WWI)

Answer 26

Growth period for modern medicine
More soldiers had died from infections than combat injuries

Spanish Flu epidemic

Expansion use of technologies such as X Ray machines, electron microscopes, use of insulin, start of antibiotic medications with Sulfa drugs for pneumonia and Mercury for STD infections

Question 27

Medicine after 1945

Answer 27

Vaccines were developed to control childhood disease; polio, measles and rubella

Major advances in birth by 1960’s, the contraceptive pill was widely available, as well the IUD

Question 28

Creation of new drugs post 1945

Answer 28

Success of penicillin during the war –> researchers wanted to study other moulds

Streptomycin (found in chickens) was used successfully to treat TB

Greater use of steroids in medicine

Question 29

What year did kidney dialysis become available?

Answer 29

First tried in 1914

More available in 1960’s

Question 30

Developments in Surgery

Answer 30

Broader range in surgery on the body after 1945 (i.e.: heart)

Question 31

Cardiovascular improvements post 1953

Answer 31

Development of successful heart lung machine allowed for more complicated heart surgery to take place

Techniques have improved greatly with coronary bypasses to improve blood supply to the heart

Artificial arteries developed to improve blood flow

After 1961- pacemakers were introduced to maintain a regular heart beat

Question 32

How was transplant surgery bettered?

Answer 32

Aid with drugs such as cortisone, azathioprine and cyclosporin to reduce rejection

Question 33

Cancer treatment post 1945

Answer 33

The use of a combination of drugs, radiotherapy, and surgery have greatly increased a cancer patient’s chances of survival

Question 34

US health spending

Answer 34

Much greater in all categories of care

Mainly ambulatory care and administration costs and hospitals and nursing homes

Question 35

When doe the annual per capita healthcare costs by age increase exponentially?

Answer 35

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