Surgery: Phase 3 The use of antiseptics 1860-1875

Question 1

What was the Black Period of surgery?

Answer 1

Until the discovery of Germ Theory, surgeons did not take precautions to stop infection.

They reused bandages, spreading gangrene from patient to patient.

Doctors did not wash their hands or sterilise equipment

The death rate increased

Question 2

How did Ignaz Semmelweiss promote cleanliness?

Answer 2

He was concerned about the deaths of healthy women after childbirth.

He realised that medical students had been dissecting dead bodies before delivering babies and had not washed their hands.

He launched a hand-washing crusade and called doctors that didn’t, murderers.

Question 3

Was Semmelweiss listened to?

Answer 3

No - he was regarded as a crank and a fanatic.

Question 4

What does aseptic mean?

Answer 4

Free from contamination. Surgically sterile.

Question 5

Explain what Joseph Lister did

Answer 5

• Interest in wound healing developed when he worked as a dresser for Sir Erichsen
• Realised that the key would be clean wounds which helped stave off infection
• He applied carbolic acid compounds as an antiseptic on surgical wounds
• This appeared to work.
• His death rate went from 45.7% to 15%
• He developed antiseptic spray to use in operating theatres
• Carbolic acid was not used for long as it damaged tissues and breathing it caused problems.
• His work revolutionised surgery and was a turning point.

Question 6

What was the opposition to Lister’s ideas?

Answer 6

Time and cost - Carbolic acid cracked surgeons skin and made everything smell. It caused extra work and made operations more expensive.

Speed - Bleeding was still a huge problem

Not carried out properly - Some surgeons copied his techniques but not properly and therefore believed it wasn’t effective.

Human body - Arguments that antiseptics prevented the body’s own mechanisms from operating

Germ Theory - Many surgeons still did not believe that microorganisms caused disease

Modesy - Lister was not a showman. He was perceived as cold and arrogant.

Technique - He was accused of constantly changing his ideas (he was looking for better alternatives to carbolic acid because it was corrosive)