Surgery Before The Industrial Revolution

Nearly 20,000 women worked directly towards the American Civil War effort. Clara Barton, and many other brave women risked their lives aiding the sick and wounded alongside Dorthea Dix. Elizabeth Blackwell and Clara Barton were both inspired to create aid and relief organizations. The few female surgeons during the civil war took part in destroying the stereotype that women can’t be surgeons. Hannah Ropes and Mary Ann Bickerdyke stood up to their male superiors and achieved respect in the hospitals across America. As the American Civil War progressed, women started to stray from their traditional feminine roll by supporting the medical field in many ways, such as nursing on the battlefront and creating aid organizations, becoming surgeons, and earning respect in the hospital system.

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.

Until the Flexner Report of 1910, requirements for admission to medical schools were rudimentary at best. Even the two prestigious schools in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Medical College, required only “one year of college work, in which, however, conditions have been very freely allowed.” and “a high school education or its equivalent,” respectively. Students at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1840s and 1850s were taught that science is based on experience and making a “judgment” as to the correct answer to a question or a problem. Civil War Surgeons’ medical education was severely limited by the concept that disease was caused by “bad air” (Dorwart, Bonnie Brice).

World War I was a war of innovation with new artillery and tactics, but also a deadly war in which approximately ten million soldiers died in or injuries sustained from battle. As injuries increased throughout the war, the need for medical assistance was constantly growing. Surgery is considered an art and like art, it evolved and new techniques were developed, making an injury that could kill someone survivable. For instance, in the Civil War most surgeons would immediately amputate and in World War I surgeons began trying much harder to save limbs. Blood transfusion allowed surgeons to reduce patient death from blood loss because of the ample supply of blood from fellow soldiers. Sanitation improvements led to fewer deaths from infection

Have you ever wondered what our Healthcare system was like in the 1800’s? Have you never wondered what they did to cure disease, treat broken bones, how society back then as a culture acted, and among other things why woman had been the main pioneer of this field? This is what my research topic consists of and below you’ll find my opinions and sources that I have used to come to the conclusion I have to illuminate the Healthcare system in the 1800’s.

In the 1800s surgeons mostly concentrated on speed and accuracy when doing surgery. Thats the most they practiced instead of trying to do it right they wanted to do it faster and the fastest surgeons were considered the best. “Surgeons were famed for their speed, particularly in amputation. As there was still no effective

During the industrial revolution disease was abundant compared to now and that it was worse than now. Medicine changed people's lives by fighting the diseases they got or caught. Most people did not live past 50-60 year old. Smallpox killed so many people it is one of the most remembered diseases, because of how many people it killed. Some of the symptoms of it were getting bumps on you then they fill up with pus that is basicly poisonous to us and other living things.by this time black death was pretty much gone. Tuberculosis was another disease that was around and they did not have a medicine for it so it was a lot worse back then than it is now. It would make you cough up blood or puke

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, you’re sweating, coughing, and starting to throw up. In today’s world, doctors are available for situations like these. Before the 1800’s, doctors were not as common, and their techniques were questionable. It wasn’t until the 1800’s, that doctors and scientists began discovering and creating medicines and vaccines to help cure sickness and disease. During the 1800’s, there were very many medical advancements. Because there were a lot of medical advancements, there were conflictions such as medical/scientific concerns, ethical concerns, legal changes, and how the economy was affected.

Surgery was very different in 1860 compared to what it is know as today. The surgical field really began to build its foundation during the Civil War. The different techniques

One good thing that resulted from the Civil War was the rise of knowledge and use of modern anesthesia. This anesthesia came in two forms, chloroform and ether. Those patients that anesthesia was used on had a higher survival rate than those where it was not available. Before the war, alcoholic drinks, opioids and bite blocks were used to keep a patient controlled during surgery. These options did not completely eliminate pain causing stress and trauma. At the time of the Civil War, it was considered cowardly to undergo surgery using anesthetic. Anesthesia was usually used for women and children. Use of anesthesia did not go without risk. Surgeons had to practice to figure out adequate dosages which took a period of trial and error sometimes resulting in overdose and death. Although uncivilized at times, medical care during the Civil War helped bring on a new age of modern medicine.

Surgery back then was very dangerous because doctors didn't have the right equipment that they have today. Surgery was very brutal, very painful but it was quick. (Amputation 1860) Most surgeries would only last 10 min and surgery was the most common thing. But if surgery was done close to the hip it was most likely fatal. (Amputation today) is avoid because of our advanced and better medicines. If Amputation is takes place there are better medicine for you. Sanitation in 1860 people didn't really know about germs so when doctors used tools for surgery or for some other reason they wouldn't clean the tools and the tools would be infection with many germs. Also they didn't have a lot of medicine nor did they put on gloves with doing surgery. Today they have better tools and are more effective.

Initially, many people lie in hospital beds suffering. With the dramatic changes in medical and technology doctors are now able to minimize the suffer of patients, and even prolong their lives. Even with the all of the medicine blocking away pain the people are still suffering.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, treatments were usually inadequate for people with severe depression. As a result, many desperate people were treated with lobotomy, a surgical operation involving incision into the prefrontal lobe of the brain, which had become a popular “calming” treatment at the time. Lobotomies were often unsuccessful, causing personality changes, inability to make decisions, and poor judgement; or even worse, coma and sometimes death. A popular treatment for schizophrenics called Electroconvulsive therapy, was also used as a treatment for depressed

According this article, modern surgery was shaped because of as a results which were written during the Civil War. George Wunderlich, director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in in Frederick mentions that plastic surgery, modern neurology, reconstructive surgery, and even occupational therapy were invested during Civil War. During civil war a lot of soldiers died because of gangrene which sometimes wasn’t cure even after amputation. Awareness of the correlation between diseases and infection came out of Civil Wars, according the historians. In some hospitals was noted that washed in soapy water bandages rated lower infection cases. So sanitize idea appeared during Civil war and widely uses in modern Medicine, especially surgery.

The beginning of phlebotomy has been well documented before the 5th century B.C. It was thought that all aspects of the body’s health came from the four body humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile (wikipedia/humorism). In times of illness, health was restored by purging, starving, vomiting, and bloodletting. Astrology played a big part in healing according to the phases of the moon. Healing was mostly controlled by priests, and then passed along to barbers who took over the daunting tasks of body healing. The red and white stripes of the barber’s pole signified a place of healing. Red represented the blood, and white represented the tourniquet. Using tools called “spring loaded lancet,” “scarificator,” and “fleam,” the body was to be brought back to a normal state (Mestel, wikipedia). The barbers were armed with tools to amputate, pull teeth, and remove blood (Ford, Graham). Little did they know that the popularity of draining the body of between 1 to 4 pints of blood could be deadly. Leeches were another popular bloodletting instrument. After engorging themselves, they would then fall off the body where the blood would continue to ooze out due to clot inhibitor they left behind (Mestel). Another popular procedure called cupping involved making a cut into a vein and applying a heated vacuum flow cup over the incision. In 1799, our first president George Washington, was drained of nine