Alex Jones Health Care History

primitive time

3000 BCE

 Illness and diseases were a punishment from the Gods
 Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies
 Herbs and plants used as medicines (morphine and digitalis)
 Trepanation or trephining to create a hole in the skull
 Average life span 20 years

Ancient Egyptian

300 BCE

Physicians were priests
 Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
 Average life span 20 years

Ancient Greeks

200 BCE

First to observe the human body and the effects of disease – led to modern medical
sciences.
 Believed illness is a result of natural causes
 Used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment
 Average life span 25-35 years

Ancient Chinese

220

Believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body
 Recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based mainly on the use of herbs
 Used therapies such as acupuncture
 Began to search for medical reasons for illness
 Average life span was 20-30 years

Ancient Romans

410

Established first hospital (caring for solders in their homes)
 First public health and sanitation systems by building sewers and aqueducts
 Average life span 25-35 years

Dark Ages

800

Began after the fall of the Roman Empire
 Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited
 Monks and priests treated patients with prayer
 Average life span 20-30

Middle Ages

1400

Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
 Bubonic Plague killed 75% of population in Europe and Asia
 Average life span 20-35 years

16th and 17th century

1600

Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
 Invention of the microscope allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
 Apothecaries led to development of pharmacies
 First vaccination developed – smallpox
 Average life span 35-45 years

Renaissance

1650

Dissection of body led to increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
 Invention of printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared
 Average life span 30-40 years

18th century

1800

Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) created the first mercury thermometer
 John Hunter (1728-1793), established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
 Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
 Average life span 40-50 years

19th century

1900

Formal training for nurses began
 Infection control developed once microorganisms were associated with disease
 Viruses discovered in 1892
 Women became active participants in health care
 Average life span 40-60 years

20th century

2000

Increased knowledge about the role of blood in the body
 ABO blood groups discovered
 Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
 New medications were developed
o Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
o Antibiotics developed to fight infections
o Vaccines were developed
 New machines developed
o Kidney Dialysis Machine
o Heart Lung Machine
o Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal conditions

21st century

2100

The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In 2001
 The threat of bioterrorism lead to smallpox vaccination of the military and first responders
in 2002
 The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia in 2002
 The Human Genome Project to identify all of the approximately 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the
human
 Stem cells were used in the treatments of disease early in the 2000’s and lead to increased