Week 3: Medical Practice Flashcards
Equivalent of hospitals in Ancient Greece
Asclepeia (Temples of Asclepios)
What services were provided in an Asclepeia?
a) Rational medicine
b) Faith-based healing
What could you find in an Asclepia?
a) Amenities: Theaters / Shops
b) Group of practitioners / Senior physician attending the sick with the help of assistants
Note: No midwives
Where did midwives and women obgyn practice?
Patients at home
What happened in most of Greek cities?
Public physicians were paid by the state to offer free health care to those who needed it
The appointment of a physician varied in Greek cities. How did it work in Athens?
Elected like other magistrates (e.g., generals or treasurers) where competence and honesty were of paramount importance.
What were the requirements for designating a public physician in Athens?
a) No need to be Athenian citizen
b) Have a reputation as amazing doctor
How much was a public physician paid?
Substantial amount
Where did private physicians assist patients during Ancient Greece?
a) Traveling and visiting their patients in their homes
b) Setting up practice, so the patients went to them
Common roles of private physicians (2)
a) Pharmacist: Operation of profitable pharmacies, selling concoctions
b) Witness: Appearance in court to testify on behalf of a patient
Training of midwives
Skilled in a number of gynecological issues
Trained in medicine
Role of midwives
a) Attending women during pregnacy/childbirth
b) Examining patient as an intermediary
When are male doctors called?
Arousal of serious, systematic complications
Example of traditional folk treatment directed at women
Plant should never cross an empty stock, causing a miscarriage
External appearance of the ideal physician (4)
a) Proportionate size
b) Healthy appearance
c) Neat dress
d) No perfumes (Suspect of mischief)
Moral qualities of the ideal physician (5)
a) Prudence
b) Clean lifestyle
c) Good manners / modesty
d) Circumspection / humanity
e) Rarely hasty
Manners of the ideal physician (5)
a) Gravitas, but not austerity
b) No pride / misanthropy
c) No silly hilarity
d) Just / Guarded
Ideal doctor’s practice (5)
a) Careful choice of a teacher
b) Moderately lit and north-facing
c) Comfortable but not ostentatious furnishing
d) Well-supplied with clean water
e) Good functionality, but not luxury for instruments
Who was Erasistratos?
Famous anatomist, well-known for being the first in conducting human dissections and diagnosing love sickness of Antiochus (stepmother)
What tools were necessary for the medical practice in Ancient Greece?
a) Several knives of various sizes
b) Clean soft towels (Wool / Linnen)
c) Bandages/Poultices/Cataplasms (Oath)
d) Cups (Humours)
e) Instruments for bleeding
f) Alcohol for disinfection
g) Hellebore as analgesic
h) Compresses
How were tumors and ulcers treated in Ancient Greece?
1) Priority: Natural dissolution in the body
2) Last resource: Removal with surgical intervention
What was special about Army medicine?
Treatment of battle wounds with a high severity and peculiarity
What was Galen’s physician-philosopher ideal?
Moderation
Justice
Cleanliness
Appreciation of all the wants of life
Opposition to fraud and superstition
Due consideration of divine power
What was ancient greek medicine founded on? What would happen if it is based on self-opinion?
a) Facts and rational processes (Knowledge)
b) Criminal and injurious to the sick
How does the physician who disregards God look like?
Someone that has excessive faith in his own Omnipotence
General expectations of the ideal physician
a) Urbanity
b) Modesty
c) Preparedness
d) Have an advanced student that was carefully selected
Why should a physician do all this?
Mainly due to reputation rather than external regulation by authorities
a) There is no regulatory body of medical practice in some cities, so in those that existed would typically correct only excessive violations.
b) His image determined the size of his clientele and his success
Prognosis in the Hippocratic Corpus
Accurate prediction by understanding important indicators and drawing sober conclusions from them to control disease and modify treatment
Topics discussed on Joints / Fractures
a) How to set simple fractures
b) How to reduce dislocation
c) Apply bandages and poultices
Topics discussed Of the Physician
What a physician ought to be
ABC of medicine
a) The medicines and their virtues,
b) The various forms of diseases and accompanying symptoms.
Why is warfare more important to the Ancient Physician?
Opportunity to study the human body
Aristotle thought that the human heart had only one ventricle because he investigated
the heart of a frog
In modern medical training, as in the ancient world, the primary method of learning is
on the job training
Because of the lack of a licensing system, in order to be trusted physicians relied on
Reputation
What evidence does the Hippocratic Oath suggest about medical training?
the existence of a guild would probably set a standard, although not universal
Dogmatists, Methodists, and Pneumatists are
Different schools of thought within the medical training world
Ancient medical training
Apprenticeship
More organized schools offered education in their own style of medicine
Which of the following is one of the major pitfalls of ancient medicine?
impossibility of performing deep surgery
