Medicine through time- Industrial Flashcards
Who was Louis Pasteur?
French scientist who discovered Germ theory in 1861
Who was Robert Koch?
German scientist who identified the different germs that caused many common diseases e.g. tuberculosis
Who was James Simpson?
Scottish surgeon who pioneered the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic
Who was Joseph Lister?
English surgeon who pioneered the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic during surgery
Who was Edward Jenner?
English doctor that developed the smallpox vaccine
Who was John Snow?
English surgeon that proved that dirty water spread cholera
What was enlightenment?
a movement in Europe that promoted the idea that people could think for themselves and the church didn’t control everyday life
What was spontaneous generation?
the theory that pathogens could randomly spawn in non-living matter
What are microbes?
Living organisms too small to see without a microscope
What was germ theory?
Pasteur’s theory that disease was spread by pathogens
What were anaesthetics like before Simpson?
Opium and nitrous oxide had been used with mild success however patients often died from being sent into shock from pain
What was aseptic surgery?
Surgical techniques to prevent microbes from entering the wounds
What was inoculation?
deliberately infecting oneself with a disease to avoid a more severe case of it later on
What was laissez faire?
The hands-off attitude employed by the government in terms of healthcare and other public affairs
What were the 4 principles of germ theory?
the air has microorganisms, microbes are killed by heat, they cause decay and aren’t evenly distributed by air
When was germ theory published?
1861
What did Koch discover and when?
Koch identified that different germs cause different diseases such as TB in 1882
Why wasn’t germ theory taken seriously?
Pasteur was not a doctor and spontaneous generation was still used until 1870
What did Florence Nightingale do to change medical care?
during the Crimea, she increased ventilation, demanded 300 scrubbing brushes to improve cleanliness around soldiers, established separate isolation wards and set up the nightingale school for nurses in 1860
What did Lister do to improve aseptic and antiseptic techniques during surgery?
sprayed carbolic acid in the air during surgery, steam cleaned instruments and introduced gowns
Why was the implementation of chloroform successful?
queen Victoria gave birth using chloroform and he was knighted
What were the downsides of Carbolic acid?
people didn’t believe in germs so were reluctant to use it
What were the downsides of chloroform?
a 14 year old died of chloroform overdose and it was very easy to overdose and cause heart problems
How did the Government help during the cholera epidemic?
encouraged local councils to provide clean water and clean up their cities, arranged for new sewers to be built, established a public health act
How did people try to prevent disease in the industrial period?
vaccinations, improved water supply and drainage, public health acts
How did people treat disease in the industrial period?
anaesthetics and antiseptics used in surgery, aseptic techniques used in hospitals
What did people believe caused disease in the industrial period?
germ theory, development of work identifying microbes
When were the public health acts?
1848 and 1875
What was Chadwick’s role in the creation of the public health act?
published a report on the sanitary conditions of the labouring classes in 1842, leading to the 1848 health act. He believed in miasma causing disease however the techniques suggested to the government were still effective
What did Edward Jenner discover and how?
gathered cases of the failure of the smallpox vaccine and observed how milkmaids who had caught cowpox never caught smallpox after. He injected James Phipps with cowpox and he was immunised against smallpox, creating the smallpox vaccine
How did people and government respond to the smallpox vaccine?
Progress was slow at first as people didn’t want to accept vaccination as it destroyed inoculation businesses and was against God’s will. However, the government realised it was cheaper and more effective that inoculation so made inoculation illegal in 1840 and later made smallpox vaccinations compulsory, paying for public vaccinations
