Transcript Ch 3 ICBS 120 Test 1

ICBS 120
HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Cultural Heritage in Medicine
Culture and ethnic heritage play a role in
health care.
 Patient may refuse medication based on
cultural traditions.
 Prehistoric skeletal remains show a 20-40
year life span for humans.
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Cultural Heritage in Medicine Cont’d
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Religion, magic and science all played a
vital part.
 Magic
was considered an essential ingredient
to chase away evil spirits.
 Gods were to be called on for cure through
ceremonies, prayers and sacrifices.
 Science was demonstrated in the use of
plants and animals.
Cultural Heritage Cont’d
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Chinese used:
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Pharmacopoeia – a book describing drugs and their
preparation that detail plant, animal, and mineral
substances as essential ingredients in effecting cures.
Ancient Chinese cultures examined and carefully
monitored the pulse in each wrist.
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Believed the pulse had hundreds of characteristics
important to medical treatment.
Five methods of treatment:
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Cure spirit, nourish body, give medication, treat whole body,
use acupuncture and moxibustion.
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
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Acupuncture: piercing of the skin by very
thin, flexible needles into any of 365 points
along 12 meridians that transverse the
body and transmit “qi” (chee).
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Moxibustion: requires the use of a
powdered plant substance that is
made into a small mound on the
person’s skin and then burned,
usually making a blister.
Allopathic and Homeopathic
treatments
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Homeopathic physicians treat illness and
disease with non-surgical methods using
small doses of medicine.
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Allopathic physicians treat illness and
disease with both medical and surgical
interventions intended to alleviate the
condition or effect a cure.
Medical Specialists
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Known by various names:
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Witch doctors, medicine men and women,
shamans or healing priests, and physicians.
Women were not accepted as medical doctors
in Western culture until the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

First female physician in US,
Elizabeth Blackwell.
History of Medical Education
In early times, emphasis placed on the
soul rather than the body.
 Medical education established in
universities began in the ninth century.
 Michelangelo spent years on careful
human dissection and this is evident in his
paintings.
 Leonardo da Vinci known for his
anatomical drawings.

History of Attitudes Toward Illness
Pagan religions tended to abandon individuals
thought to be ill because they were in disfavor
with the gods.
 Native Americans who were ill, were treated with
kindness .
 Eskimos put their older adults unprotected onto
ice floes.

History of Attitudes Cont’d
Today we debate right to choose life or
death and physician-assisted suicides.
 People fear illness they perceive as
threatening, such as AIDS.
 Public may treat people with certain
diseases unfairly.

History of Medical Treatments
Ancient Egyptians used urine to test for
pregnancy.
 Early medical treatments were often crude
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Rhubarb, bitter apple, turpentine, and mercury were
physician samples
Some physicians did not wash instruments used in
treating the ill
Edward Jenner made a great contribution to the
prevention of disease by discovering a
vaccination against smallpox
Medical Treatments Cont’d

19th century - medicine progressed
rapidly.
 Anesthesia
was discovered to alleviate pain
during surgery.
 Discovered that some bacteria caused
disease.
 Asepsis became important to reduce
transmission of infection.
Medical Treatments Cont’d
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Early 20th Century
 Many
infectious diseases and epidemics
became curable.
 Life expectancy increased
 Antibiotics discovered
Significant Contributor to
Medicine
Hippocrates - ancient Greek physician
whose writings contribute today’s medical
culture.
 Hippocratic Oath established guidelines for
a physician’s practice of medicine
 Nickname “father of medicine”
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