Medical Treatment Of The Modern World

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.

“The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic, or hospital.” (Mark Hyman). In the Elizabethan Era, most of society was poverty-stricken, which drove communities to improvise to help the sick as real doctors and physicians were too expensive. Barbers and wise women rose to the occasion of helping the sick, although they did not have much medical knowledge. Medical knowledge was also lacked in professional doctors and physicians as their knowledge revolved around their religion, leaving the sick in the mercy of misconceptions. During the 16th century, society suffered from lack of medical knowledge and ignorance to the benefit of sanitation, resulting in misconceptions of faulty doctors that brought expansion of diseases and death.

In the translation of the Islamic medical book, World History: Patterns of Interaction, the excerpt provided displays the large extent to which Muslims knew of medical procedures and diseases. “European medical schools gained access to vital reference sources such as al-Razi’s Comprehensive Book and Ibn Sina’s The Canon of Medicine. Ibn Sina’s five-volume encyclopedia guided doctors of Europe and Southwest Asia for six centuries” (Doc 3). This quote explains the large amount of credible sources Muslims utilized in order to obtain their medical knowledge. Unfortunately, other cultures did not have these resources, making Muslim contributions some of the best in the world. As mentioned in the first example, World History: Patterns of Interaction, includes numerical data pertaining to medical tools and procedures. “For nearly 500 years, al Qasim’s work, The Method, which contained original drawings of some 200 medical tools, was the foremost textbook on surgery in Europe” (Doc 3). With all the knowledge of medical procedures and tools, the Islamic culture by default was the most medically advanced in the world. Also, Islam’s contributions to world culture caused western civilization to advance in medicine while simultaneously increasing the average life

Their upkeep rested with the local governments. They had multiple functions which included care of the poor and sick, orphanages, criminal incarceration and for confinement of the insane. This was a significant step in the continued development of medical care. William Penn started the first hospital in Philadelphia in 1713. The next type of hospital was the voluntary hospital.

The medicine and approach to medicine was very scientific. They tested methodically against the books and resources they had to make their own, to make medicine less perilous and pointless. Most Islamic medicinal practice was still painful.

A misconception about medical care during this time period is that it improved drastically. The mortality rates experienced a decline in the 1800s, less people were getting sick outside of large cities, and hospitals and infirmaries were being set up all over Europe. Medical advances had a minor role in all of this. Sanitation had the largest effect in combating illness and death. In the name of self-interest, the wealthy pooled money to build healthcare facilities. It was really just, “a stage-managed means by which the patricians bought off the plebeians, persuading them that their social superiors gave back in paternal affection what they took away in time and sweat” (Waller, “Medicine in the Enlightenment”). Physicians cannot be reasonably credited with the mass’ growing quality of life. They still provided treatments that did not work, and at times hastened the death of their patients. On top of this many

In today’s world hospitals are the foremost facilities of providing a varying level of care. These facilities supplies its medical professionals with the means to perform any treatment deemed necessary to regain health or save a life. However, as true as this understanding may be, there are hospitals here in the United States that are not allowed to provide certain services because of religious affiliations; meaning they must first follow a religious doctrine before implementing any medical intervention. Consequently, women may find their level of healthcare under these religious hospitals being subpar and lacking since religion has specific views on life. Most if not all religious institutions will not involve themselves in any

Health care providers are challenged with caring for patients and families from different religions, faiths and cultures.  It is beneficial for a care provider to have an understanding of different beliefs so that the care and treatment plans coincide with patient’s religious faith.  Creating individualized plans of care to meet the spiritual needs of their patients is necessary for providing them holistic care.  Research is presented on three religious faiths, and their perspective will be compared to Christianity; helping nurses understand and recognize the diversity between different religions and faiths.

There were no medical schools at all and very few physicians in Western Europe. Those who studied the human body or any kind of medicine were members of the Church. Even then, if the human body was studied, dissection was not allowed. “Furthermore, because the human body was held sacred, dissection was prohibited and this meant that the sciences of anatomy and physiology, which are the bedrock of all medical knowledge, could not be studied in a practical manner” (Bishop 58). Going deeper into the natural causes of disease was discouraged as well, even when one of the first principles of Christianity was healing the sick. Instead of physicians curing people, churches dedicated shrines to saints that were associated with the healing arts. “A patron saint was usually regarded as having power to relieve affections of a particular organ or part of the body” (Bishop 58). Practices of surgery were forbidden to priests; any practice of surgery therefore was left into the hands of barbers and uneducated men. However, there were surgeons who attended the noble and royal. This surgery that was attempted was meddlesome in the Middle Ages. “The progress of surgery was long retarded by the belief that suppuration was an essential process in the healing of wounds” (Bishop 60). Suppuration is discharged waste from a wound. There were messy and obnoxious antidotes for treating a wound and the wound was kept open artificially (Bishop 60). Another way wounds were treated was the use of ligature by the Greeks to control haemorrhage. Ligature is the binding of a wound. Ligature was abandoned because of the later surgeons and the use of cauterization. However these methods were only used in time of dire need and the surgeons usually did not want to use any brutal methods; the surgeons wanted to stick with a simple dressing of the wound. After some

Doctors based most anatomical descriptions on the work of Galen and Hippocrates, as cutting into and exploring a dead body was strictly prohibited by the Catholic church. Doctors estimated that perhaps the health of a person relied on their sleep, exercise, diet, air intake and emotions, as well as the position of the stars. Unfortunately for peasants, doctors were hard to find. Most medical advice for the lower classes came from the elders with folk traditions. Alternatively, the towns people would turn to the local church and pray the illness away. The spread of disease was sped up by the lack of knowledge of germs, meaning going to the church to pray away the disease made the spread of it much more serious.

Since nursing began, many different philosophies have helped shape our evolution. Philosophical forces have been spiritual, religious, and gender in nature just to name a few. “Spiritual belief and religious practice contributed significantly to the moral foundation of nursing.” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 8) When admitting a patient, I am required to ask if my patient has any spiritual beliefs. We do this because spiritual beliefs have long been thought to play an important part to promote healing. For this reason, it is essential to incorporate whatever their belief into their treatment plan. The same can be said for their religious beliefs. Not all procedures, medications, and treatments are universally accepted among the many different religions. But, we do know that “in all cultures, the nursing profession has been profoundly influenced by various aspects of spirituality and religious practice.”

cure. Hospitals not only have to meet the demands of curing illnesses, but also have to accommodate the spiritual needs and comfort of patients. Hospitals are generally built and organized in the effort to help patients gain support by having the opportunity to turn towards religion during difficult times. Hospitals in general have various religious leaders on call if a patient were to request them. They also have places of worship available to serve as a sanctuary for patients. These places are equipped with sacred texts from different religions such as the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible. As described in the article, “Sacred spaces in public places: religious and spiritual plurality in health care”, “These spaces evoked a feeling of sacredness of space and time – a sense of transcendence, immanence or connectedness in the everyday” (Reimer-Kirkham 203). This tranquil feeling can help to relieve the stress of the body, being proved to help the bodies process of healing, or in the case of terminally ill patients, helps them to develop a more positive outlook on what is happening. They are able to turn towards religion as support for the difficult time.

Another aspect of Islam that contributed to medical development was the stress placed on protecting

Understanding the needs of the patient will help both the patient and the nurse. Thru the nurses understanding of the patient’s religion, she will not be surprised and maybe able to assist her patient with not only their physical healing but also their spiritual healing which is part of treating the whole person. It is important for the healing of the patient to have the respect of the staff in regards to the patients spiritual healing. Prayer, meditation, yoga, and the consumption of certain foods or herbs are all types of religious healing practices that staff must know about to help their patient to heal. Understanding the patients request of time alone to pray, meditate, or perform a spiritual ritual will help the patient to understand that the nurse recognizes the importance of accepting their belief. This is part of treating the whole patient; mind, body, and spirit and helping to bring about positive outcomes in their care.

The Muslims made much significant advancement in the medical field. The rulers of the Muslim Empire encouraged this research in the medical field. They wanted people who knew about diseases and medical procedures treating them were they were ill. This made the Muslims much more advanced and knowledgeable in medicine than other parts of the world. In fact, Muslim cities boasted some of the best hospitals in the world. One reason they were so efficient is that doctors and pharmacists were required to complete a specific course of study and pass a formal examination before being able o practice medicine. However, this knowledge was not exclusive to the Muslim Empire, but rather it was translated into Latin and was used in European schools. The spread of this knowledge made Europe significantly more knowledgeable regarding diseases and medical procedures than they were prior to them receiving this information. In addition to advancements in the medical field, other scientific advancements were made. The created the practice of the experiment as well as a method of classification into three distinct categories: animal, vegetable, or mineral.