Industrial- Antiseptics

Question 1

what was medicine like before germ theory in the 1860s?

Answer 1

surgeons didn’t take any precautions to protects against infection

Question 2

what did doctors use before antiseptic were introduced?

2

Answer 2

• they reused bandages spreading gangrene and skin infections from patient to patient
• they didn’t wash their hands before an operation or sterilise their equipment and some operated wearing old pus stained clothes

Question 3

who was Ignaz Semmelweis?

Answer 3

a hungarian doctor working in austria in 1847

Question 4

what did Semmelweis do?

Answer 4

tried to encourage medical students to wash their hands after observing midwives

however no one took his ideas seriously

Question 5

who was Joseph Lister?

Answer 5

the man who came up with the idea of using carbolic acid to prevent infection

Question 6

why did he think to use this?

Answer 6

after seeing it prevent odour from sewage in Carlisle

Question 7

how did he use this on patients?

Answer 7

he applied carbolic acid to the wounds and used bandages soaked in carbolic

he found wounds healed and didn’t develop gengrene

Question 8

how did this influence antiseptic surgery?

Answer 8

by the late 1890s listers antiseptic methods developed into antiseptic surgery since it killed of bacteria

Question 9

how did they ensure this cleanliness?

4

Answer 9

• operating theatres and hospitals were thoroughly cleaned
• from 1887 all instruments were steam cleaned
• surgeons operated in gowns and face masks
• in 1894 sterilised rubber gloves were used for the first time

Question 10

impacts and after

3

Answer 10

• with the problem of infection now solved surgeons could attempt more ambitious surgery’s
• the first successful operation to remove an infected appendix cane in the 1880s
• the first heart operation was carried out in 1896

Question 11

factors

5

Answer 11

• individual genius
• attitude of enquiry
• science and technology
• chance
• communication

Question 12

limitations

4

Answer 12

• opposition to listers ideas
• carbolic acid soaked the theatre and damaged skin making operations more difficult
• pasteurs ideas spread slowly meaning many didn’t accept the idea of germs
• the problem of blood loss still had not been solved and many antiseptic methods slowed surgery down causing further blood loss