Developing Medical Field Essay

Medieval Medicine was basic in an era when terrible illnesses such as the Black Death were killing nearly one third of the population. No one had any idea what caused illnesses and diseases, such as the Black Death. There were no antibiotics or vaccines thus it was almost impossible to cure illness and diseases.

Medicine played and still plays a major part in the world. However, modern medicine did not prosper until long after the civil war, which we can assure are some of the reasons many soldiers and residents lives were compromised. From amputations, sanitation, a lack of surgeons and supplies with, contagious fevers and diseases a great deal of people went long winters and summers suffering from things that doctors were incapable of curing solely based on the fact medicine had not reached the level of quality and quantity it needed to be at the time.

We find that the “oldest written sources of western medicine are The Hippocratic writings from the 5th and 4th centuries BC; which covers all aspects of medicine at that time and contain numerous medical terms.”(Wulff) This was the beginning of the Greek era of the language of medicine, which lasted even after the Roman

“Dedicated to enhancing professional and personal growth for allied health professionals, American Medical Technologists (AMT) awards the Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) credential to qualifying individuals.

The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.

Medieval medicine was rooted in Ancient Greek practices. In 65 A.D., a Greek writer, Discorides, wrote a book, Material Medica. The book is about medical use of over five-hundred different plants. The book is translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Doctors in the Early Modern Era knew very little, and they used plants as the most important care and/or treatment. Due to unsanitary places and tools, many different diseases spread around Europe. Life was challenging during the Early Modern Era because of many diseases(Alchin). During the 1500s- 1600s, diseases overtook many people because doctors knew little, medicine was unknown, and there were many causes.

As described by Dr. Atul Gawande in his book Complications, medicine “is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge… fallible individuals” making medicine different from other scientific fields

Prior to 18th century Europe there were a few effective medical developments but most treatments lacked medical value. An idea developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans insisted that bloodletting was a fantastic remedy to difficult diseases but it did more harm than good (Doc 4). Another flaw in medicine is the level of hygiene in the institutions that provided care. The sick were crammed into dirty hospitals, dead lay beside those clinging to life, and the air was

During the Civil War, medicine was not at all advanced and many soldiers died due to this. Whether the soldiers were fighting for the Union or the Confederacy, they faced many difficulties on the battlefield that affected their health greatly. The conditions were rough and there were never enough medical personnel to properly treat the injured or ill soldiers. Even though there were many flaws in this system, it is from these flaws that current medical practices were established by a few important people at this time.

At the start of the civil war in 1861 there were less than 100 doctors (Fifer, “Health and Medicine During the Civil War”) and by the end there were around 11,000 Union doctors and 4,000 Confederate. Less than five percent of all Union doctors have ever performed a surgery before the start of the war, and the Civil War caretakers had just let go of old remedies such as, bloodletting, purging and blistering. The study of medicine was not a well known topic. (Dixon, “Civil War Medicine”) Doctors had to learn their jobs by doing, and treatment constantly an effort of trial and error to learn the ways of helping their patients. Care providers had never experienced these “bone shattering” injuries before the start of the Civil War. (Trammell, “Life is better than limb”)

The nineteenth century held one of the most medically appalling wars, as well as one of the most medically innovative wars. The Civil war is considered a terrible time period for medical equipment as well as surgeons. Many soldiers who had been fighting in the Civil War were killed by sicknesses including diarrhea and pneumonia. Surgeons, who had minimum medical experience, were taking care of the wounded soldiers at the time. The idea of sanitizing and sterilizing equipment that was used on a patient beforehand was not known by the inexperienced surgeons. Only a few years later came the Spanish-American war, which showed a vast improvement in the medical field. During the Spanish-American War many important inventions were created. These include the invention of the x-ray, the discovery of the germ theory, and the discovery of the antiseptic method. Both of these discoveries made it much easier for Surgeons to operate on the wounded soldiers. Another beneficial factor that made the Spanish-American War more medically advanced then the civil war was the service of female nurses. The Nurses provided a lot of help for the surgeons at times when there was a lot of work, and assistance was needed. It is clear that the medicinal techniques used during the Civil War were much less advanced than those used during the Spanish American War.

The Civil War was a very eventful, horrific, terrifying, and brutal war in American History. It’s circumstances caused the lives of SO many courageous soldiers. With the help of the medical treatments or procedures that came about, several keys of life, whether daily life or life amidst war, improved. The innovation of medicine in the civil war is very important because of it’s effects on the war, modern medicine, and changes in treatment on the battlefield.

In medicine there were many things that changed and some that stayed the same between 1350 and 1750. Initially I will be looking at medicine and treatment in the Ancient World as a prelude to its importance during the Renaissance period, and also the influence it may have had in the Middle Ages.

Many ancient civilizations, such as the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, pushed medical knowledge forward until the Middle Ages, when medical knowledge was believed to have slowed down. However, that is not the case. The Middle Ages were a time of change and improvement, they shaped the modern world. The Middle Ages revolutionized medical practices, physicians linked filth to the spread of disease, many practical diagnoses and treatments for common illnesses were discovered, and medical training programs in universities became well established.

The Middle Ages were tough times when it came to disease and medicine. There were numerous types of sickness and disease that flooded Europe during the Middle Ages. Not helping the situation, the medicinal knowledge of the people of Europe of the time was not up to par. Some of the diseases and illness that were running rampant during these times were pneumonia, leprosy, and the plague. The middle ages were a time of great suffering and death because of the abundant disease and lack of knowledge of the spread and treatments.