KQ3 - ATTEMPTS TO TREAT ILLNESS & DISEASE Flashcards
MEDIEVAL TREATMENT EXAMPLES ?
Herbal Remedies
Bloodletting
Urine Charts
Zodiac
Barber Surgeons
Herbal Remedies ?
Widely used, remedies often passed dwon through families
Written in books called herbals - ‘Leech book of Bald’
Some success as plants and honey can be used to alleviate illness
BLOODLETTING ?
The favoured way of fighting disease at the time
Done through cupping or using leeches
Totally ineffective as it is based around imbalance in the four humours, a theory we now know to be wrong.
BARBER SURGEONS ?
Performed basic surgeries like bonesetting and teeth removal, alongside cutting hair
Largely ineffective as any good they did was often replaced with infection. They used unsterile equipment and were poorly trained
ZODIAC CHARTS ?
A person’s star sign was important when diagnosing
Certain star signs linked to different body parts
The chart may show when best to carry out treatment
URINE CHARTS ?
Urine was a vital tool in diagnosis
Its look and colour would be compared to a chart
It would often be tasted or smelled
WELSH TREATMENTS ?
DYNION HYSBYS
THE PHYSICIANS OF MYDDFAI
THE MEDICINER
WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE DYNION HYSBYS ?
They treated sickness through charms and spells. Wisemen
Mostly ineffective as their treatments were based around superstition and belief in the supernatural
THE PHYSICIANS OF MYDDFAI ?
Treated local lords and recorded their cures and treatments in a manuscript, Red Book of Hergest
Gave instructions on treating patients through surgery
THE MEDICINER ?
The mediciner in the laws of Hywel Dda used herbal remedies to treat the sick and repair broken bones.
EARLY MODERN TREATMENT ?
Much the same as miasma and the supernatural remained the leading beliefs on what caused disease
Discovery of Quinine to treat malaria
The use of the scientific method to treat disease.
ANAESTHETICS PRE-SIMPSON ?
SIR HUMPHREY DAVY - Nitrous Oxide as an anaesthetic
ROBERT LISTON - Amputated a leg using ether as an anaesthetic in 1846
Both had issues with dose control
DESCRIBE THE WORK OF JAMES SIMPSON ?
Discovered chloroform as an anaesthetic in childbirth
Public were suspicious until 1857 when Queen Victoria used it to give birth
Allowed for surgery to be painless for the patient
Doctors could now take their time and be more precise in the surgery.
WHAT YEAR DID QUEEN VICTORIA USE CHLOROFORM ?
1857
DARK AGE OF SURGERY ?
Mortality rates increased in the period between the inventions of anaesthetic and ether. Without the pressure of patients being awake, doctors slowed down their surgeries which increased the chance infection.