History of Healthcare

  • Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Early Beginnings

  • Cause of Disease
    3900 BCE

    Cause of Disease

    Early people believed that illnesses were caused by supernatural spirits.
  • Treatment for the Sick
    3600 BCE

    Treatment for the Sick

    When trying to heal the sick they would use ceremonies to get rid of spirits. They also used plants and herbs to heal.
  • Medicines Still Used Today
    3100 BCE

    Medicines Still Used Today

    We still use some medicines that they used back then. We use Digitalis, Quinine, Belladonna and Atropine, and Morphine.
  • Period: 2999 BCE to 399

    Ancient Times

  • Ancient Egyptians
    2900 BCE

    Ancient Egyptians

    The Egyptians started taking accurate health records. The physicians were the priest. They would use leeches for blood letting and learned how to use a splint for fractures.
  • Ancient Chinese
    1900 BCE

    Ancient Chinese

    The idea of acupuncture was invented by the Chinese and is still used regularly today. It was used to treat pain and disease.
  • Ancient Greeks
    900 BCE

    Ancient Greeks

    The Greeks were the first to realize that maybe illnesses come from nature too and not all just spiritual. Hippocrates is known as the father of medicine. He obstreperous gained all his knowledge by observing the body and anatomy. Bodies were not allowed to be dissected due to religion so they had to just study the outside of the body to learn.
  • Ancient Romans
    100

    Ancient Romans

    The Romans were the first to send medical care to solders in wars. They kept rooms in there houses for patients to stay which is the start of hospitals. The doctors wore masks when around sicknesses.
  • Period: 400 to 800

    Dark Age

  • Why Did the Study of Medicine Stop
    500

    Why Did the Study of Medicine Stop

    The study of medicine stopped when the Roman Empire was taken over by the Huns.
  • How Did They Treat Disease
    700

    How Did They Treat Disease

    For about 1,000 medicine was only practiced in convents and monasteries. The only treatment was prayer at this time because they believed the matter of life and death was all in Gods hand.
  • Period: 800 to 1400

    Middle Age

  • Epidemics
    1100

    Epidemics

    Epidemics caused millions of deaths through this time. The Bubonic Plague killed 60 million people and many other wide spread diseases did the same. They didn’t have vaccines against those things like we do today.
  • Period: 1350 to

    Renaissance

  • Rebirth of the Medical Field
    1450

    Rebirth of the Medical Field

    During the Renaissance period they restarted research and learning about developments in medical history. The acceptance of dissection was also part of the many new ideas they were discovering. The development of the printing press was also used for publishing books.
  • Period: 1501 to

    16th and 17th Centuries

  • Leonardo da Vinci
    1515

    Leonardo da Vinci

    Leonardo da Vinci studied and took notes of anatomy of the body.
  • Gabriele Fallopius
    1550

    Gabriele Fallopius

    Fallopius was the first to discover the Fallopian tubes in the female body.
  • Bartolommeo Eustachio
    1563

    Bartolommeo Eustachio

    He discovered the tube connecting the ear and the throat.
  • William Harvey

    William Harvey

    He used his knowledge to discover the circulation of blood throughout the body.
  • Antonio von Leeuwenhoek

    Antonio von Leeuwenhoek

    He invented the microscope which proved that there is life smaller then the eye can see.
  • Apothecaries

    Apothecaries

    They are early pharmacists that started in mid evil England.
  • Period: to

    18th Century

  • Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin’s discoveries are very helpful in many different. He invented bifocals. He also found out that colds and other infections can be passed from one person to another.
  • Medical Students Learning

    Medical Students Learning

    Students attended lectures and laboratories to learn.
  • Joseph Priestley

    Joseph Priestley

    He discovered the element oxygen and found out that plants make cleaner air.
  • Edward Jenner

    Edward Jenner

    He discovered a way to vaccinate against smallpoxs. His discovery saves millions of lives and lead to an immunization.
  • René Laënnec

    René Laënnec

    Invented the first stethoscope made of wood.
  • Period: to

    19th and 20th Centuries

  • Ignacio Semmelweis

    Ignacio Semmelweis

    He discovered that puerperal fever was caused by people delivering babies without washing there hands before. The women would get infected and pass away. He found out the importance in hand washing and keeping clean.
  • Florence Nightingale

    Florence Nightingale

    Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing and made nursing a respectable job for women.
  • Louis Pasteur

    Louis Pasteur

    He is known as the “father of microbiology” and discovered microorganisms. He also proved that microorganisms can cause disease. He also created the vaccine for rabies.
  • Dmitri Ivanovski

    Dmitri Ivanovski

    He discovered that sometimes diseases are caused by microorganisms that cant be seen by a microscope and are called viruses.
  • Joseph Lister

    Joseph Lister

    Lister was the first to use carbolic acid to disinfect wounds and prevent infection. He was the first to use an antiseptic during the surgeries he preformed.
  • Ernst von Bergmann

    Ernst von Bergmann

    Was the first to make an asepsis or a sterile place to preform surgery to prevent infection.
  • Robert Koch

    Robert Koch

    He discovered many disease causing organisms and developed a culture plate to find pathogens. He also believed in the importance of cleaning and sanitation.
  • Paul Ehrlich

    Paul Ehrlich

    He was the first to discover the effects medicine had on microorganisms. He was able to kill microorganisms but not bacteria. Chemicals were starting to be used to fight disease.
  • Wilhelm Roentgen

    Wilhelm Roentgen

    Roentgen discovered how to take an x-ray. The discovery allowed them to see inside the body easily.
  • Anesthesia

    Anesthesia

    Many patients would die from pain during surgeries and there were many unsafe and unpractical ways to lessen the pain. Nitrous oxide and chloroform were discovered to put patients into a deep sleep so they don’t experience any pain during surgeries.
  • Sir Alexander Fleming

    Sir Alexander Fleming

    He figured out that penicillin killed life threatening bacteria. This was considered one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. They were now able to cure illnesses that people died from all the time.
  • Sigmund Freud

    Sigmund Freud

    Freud discovered the conscious and unconscious parts of the brain. He figured out that the mind and body worked together to function. This began the study of psychology and illnesses caused by emotional conflict.
  • Gerhard Domagk

    Gerhard Domagk

    He discovered sulfonamide compounds that were the first medicines capable of killing bacteria.
  • Jonas Salk

    Jonas Salk

    Discovered that a dead polio virus can cause immunity to poliomyelitis which paralyzed thousands of people. The vaccine saved many people from disability and death.
  • Albert Sabin

    Albert Sabin

    Albert Sadin was the first to use a live polio vaccine which is more effective and still suede today.
  • Francis Crick and James Watson

    Francis Crick and James Watson

    They discovered the molecular structure of DNA and it’s double helix shape. They found out how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is carried on.
  • Christian Barnard

    Christian Barnard

    He performed the first successful heart transplant.
  • Ben Carson

    Ben Carson

    Ben Carson is a pioneer of separating Siamese twins and preforming hemispherectomies to stop seizures.
  • Period: to

    21st Century

  • 3D Printed Body Parts

    3D Printed Body Parts

    Scientists have successfully created body parts by using 3D printers. They can be used to replace dead or dis-functioning organs or making prosthetics.
  • The Bionic Eye

    The Bionic Eye

    The company ‘Second Sight’ got approval from the U.S. government to start selling the bionic eye. The eye uses a camera in the user’s glasses to depict a picture and send the message to the retinal implant.
  • Seizure Stoppers

    Seizure Stoppers

    A company called NuroPace made the worlds first closed loop neuromodulation system that is always monitoring brain waves and detects unusual activity.
  • The World’s First Artificial Pancreas

    The World’s First Artificial Pancreas

    The artificial pancreas measures blood glucose levels every 5 minutes and adjust your dosage according to your readings.
  • CRISPR/Cas9 Genetic Scissors

    CRISPR/Cas9 Genetic Scissors

    Emmanuel a Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna discovered a “scissor” which is enzymes that separate pieces of DNA to restore them to proper function.