Medicine-19th and 20th Century-Surgery Flashcards
What were the three main problems facing surgeons at the beginning of the nineteenth century?
Pain, blood-loss and infection
What is another name for laughing gas?
Nitrous Oxide
What did Humphrey Davy discover in 1799?
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) reduced the sensation of pain.
How did people lose faith in laughing gas?
People were still conscious when surgery took place. Horrace Wells completed an operation using laughing gas and the patient was still in pain.
What is an anaesthetic?
It is something that reduces pain.
When was ether first used as an anaesthetic?
1846
Who discovered chloroform?
James Simpson in 1847
How did he discover it?
Simpson and his colleagues inhaled the liquid and the dinner table and passed out under the table.
Give two reasons why people opposed chloroform
Some believed that pain was inflicted by God so should be suffered. It was untested. Hannah Greener died when given it. It led to the dark age of surgery because people carried out deeper surgeries and this led to more death.
Who helped chloroform to be accepted?
Queen Victoria in 1857-praised the use of chloroform during childbirth.
Why is Simpson’s chloroform seen as a turning point in the development of anaesthetics?
It helped lead to the development of other chemicals that relaxed muscles as well as put them to sleep. Many of which are still used today.
What was Ignaz Semmelweiss’ crazy idea?
Realised that babies delivered by doctors were more likely to die than if they were delivered by midwifes. This is because midwifes washed their hands and the doctors came straight from dissecting bodies. He said doctors should wash their hands.
Where did Joseph Lister get the idea of using carbolic acid during surgery?
In 1864 he heard about the effects of using carbolic acid on sewage in Carlisle.
What was Lister’s type of surgery called?
Antiseptic surgery
When did Lister publish his work on carbolic acid?
1867
