History of medicine: Modern

Question 1

What were ideas about causes of disease?

Answer 1

By 1900 belief in germs was universal, so people began to look for deeper causes of disease connected to the “pathways of the body” and hereditary diseases
1953 - Structure of DNA understood
1990 - Human genome project launched
2000 - Complete mapping of human genome
Ideas about lifestyle became more important

Question 2

What kind of technology do we use to make diagnosis?

Answer 2

Blood tests (1930s-), Blood sugar monitoring (1960s-), X-rays (1890s-), MRI scans (1970s-), CT scans (1970s-), ultrasound scans (1940s-), endoscopes (1990s-), blood pressure monitors (1880s-), ECGs (1900s-)

Question 3

What are specific examples of successful cures?

Answer 3

1909 - Salvarsan 606 cured syphillis (first chemical cure)
1932 - Prontosil cured blood poisoning
1938 - M&B 693
Penicillin - 1940s, first antibiotic
1943 - Streptomycin discovered, so powerful as an antibioticit cured TB

Question 4

Who were some key individuals in this time?

Answer 4

Paul Ehrich - Led research team for Salvarsan 606
Alexander Fleming - Discovered mould killed some germ in 1928
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain - Took Fleming’s work further by proving penicillin could kill infections inside of the body

Question 5

How did care change in this period?

Answer 5

Access to care drastically improved due to the changing role of the governemnt and the set up of the NHS in 1948
With governemt funding, hospitals improved in quality a lot
Apothecaries fell out of favour

Question 6

How did hospitals change in this period?

Answer 6

Governemnt funding and the NHS meant hospitals greatly improved
They became cleaner, more sohpisticated and more high-tech because of aseptic conditions, better science and technology and better training of staff

Question 7

How did surgery become more advanced?

Answer 7

Microsurgery - Kidney transplant 1956, lung transplant 1963, liver and heart transplants from 1967 onward
Keyhole surgery - tiny cameras and narrow surgical instruments
Robotic surgery

Question 8

How did public health change?

Answer 8

The government no longer took a laissez-faire apporach and are more heavily involved with public health, which led to lots of positive change

Question 9

What influenced support for a welfare state?

Answer 9

The Blitz spirit from World War Two brought together people from all classes a they realised they needed each other and had a lot more in common than they thought. This mean the entire population voted for the creation of the NHS

Question 10

What were methods of lifestyle advice used?

Answer 10

Advertising warning against smoking, binge drinking, unportected sex and recreational drug use
Stoptober
Change4life

Question 11

Why did the government become less laissez-faire over time?

Answer 11

Increased understanding of what caused disease
Increased understanding of prevention
Needing to manage the spending of the NHS

Question 12

What factors ifluenced such rapid change in the modern world?

Answer 12

Science - Doctors returned to looking internally for causes of disease and the discovery of DNA helped explain hereditary diseases
Technology - Better machinery has allowed better diagnosis and treatment
Attitudes in society - people now believe we should take care of all people and provide all people with quality care
Government - the government has taken less of a laissez-faire approach
War - War changed the attitude in society and lead to a demand for fast changes in technology and science