Medicine Unit 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What period of time does the medieval unit focus on?

A

1000AD - 1450AD

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2
Q

What did people believe caused illnesses?

A

The four humours
God
Miasma
Supernatural - e.g. misalignment of stars or planets
Everyday life

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3
Q

What were the four humours made up of? What element did they link with?

A

Yellow bile - fire
Black bile - earth
Phlegm - water
Blood - air

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4
Q

Who taught and introduced the four humours?

A

Hippocrates

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5
Q

How would illnesses be treated if you believed in the four humours?

A

A treatment would be offered that related to the element that linked with each humour
E.g. put feet in water if you had phlegm

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6
Q

How did the four humours have to be to be healthy?

A

They had to be balanced

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7
Q

Who would treat illnesses in the medieval period?

A

Apothecaries
Doctors - there weren’t many doctors
Wise women
Barber surgeon

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8
Q

What would apothecaries do to treat you?

A

Sell medicines like herbs and spices

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9
Q

What would doctors do to treat you?

A

Treated based on teaching of the four humours

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10
Q

What would wise women do to treat you?

A

Give you homemade potions and remedies

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11
Q

What would barber surgeons do to treat you?

A

Perform operation
E.g. tooth extraction, bloodletting & amputations

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12
Q

What were 6 common treatments in the medieval period? Give a brief definition if necessary.

A

Bloodletting - bleeding done usually by leeching
Cauterisation - when fire was applied to a wound to stop it bleeding
Amputation - cutting off limbs, no anaesthetic, often ended with infections
Herbs
Prayers & pilgrimage - praying to god to heal you and going to shrines to be healed
Trepanning - a hole was drilled in head to get rid of demons

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13
Q

Who was Hippocrates?

A

Greek doctor

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14
Q

How has Hippocrates impacted medicine long term?

A

There’s a Hippocratic oath
Some of his discoveries are still believed - diet impact health and clinical observations

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15
Q

What did Hippocrates believe? Why does that make him significant?

A
  1. Clinical observation (when poor health was observed) - found out diet impact health
  2. The body shouldn’t be looked at as a whole but as individual body parts
  3. Balance of the four humour was necessary
  4. Said every illness had a natural cause not a supernatural cause e.g. God

Long term impact on medicine
Some of his discoveries are believed today
Taught that illness wasn’t caused by God

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16
Q

Why was Hippocrates slightly insignificant?

A

Went against church teachings that God cause illness as punishment or test of faith - made him unpopular and many didn’t follow his teachings
Introduced four humours - believed for many centuries and because people believed it, they didn’t look for other real causes to illness

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17
Q

Who was Galen?

A

Greek doctor

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18
Q

What did Galen discover? How does this make him significant?

A
  1. Developed the human anatomy (whilst at gladiator school)
  2. Performed dissections to get a better understanding

One of the first people to perform dissections, it’s how we understand how bodies work today
The development of the human anatomy was and is still important

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19
Q

Why was Galen insignificant?

A

Dissections were made on animals not humans - didn’t have a proper understanding
Supported by the church as he believed in god and referred to the ‘creator’ in his work - slowed down progression of medicine as no one could go against his teaching or they’d be punished or arrested

20
Q

What is public health?

A

The general health and wellbeing of the whole population

21
Q

What was public health like in monasteries?

A

Generally good

22
Q

Why was public health in monasteries good?

A

Had money - they were wealthy as they had patrons so could afford good sanitation
Isolated - far away from town that had bad public health
Near rivers - pure water was supplied rather than dirty, diseases infested water from towns
Had elaborate pipe systems, filtering systems & washing systems
Had gardens - grew their own herbs used for treatments and health
Monks were educated, disciplined and clean - read book and had knowledge

23
Q

Why did monasteries believe public health was important?

A

It was believed that cleanliness was a sign of holiness

24
Q

What was public health like in towns?

A

Very bad but rarely good

25
Q

Why was public health generally bad in towns?

A

No one was in charge of public health - no one was ensuring that people were clean and hygienic
Cesspits were built - collected all waste
No knowledge of germs - germ theory only came about in 1861
Water was rare - if it was present, it was dirty
No sewers
Animal and their faeces everywhere

26
Q

Why was public health in towns slightly good?

A

Some towns had aqueducts - transferred water from one place to another in the town HOWEVER were built by romans so were quite old
Some towns had bath houses and these were used by everyone

27
Q

What were the Christian ideas about health?

A

Illnesses were a punishment or a test of faith
Illnesses came from God
Therefore they would be healed by God when the time was right and shouldn’t be cured
Hospitals should be a centre of recovery and rest

28
Q

How did Christian’s treat the sick?

A

Shrines made and turned into pilgrimages (filled with bones and relics of saints) - way to get better
Prayers were the best treatment
Didn’t cure the ill but only cared for them - God would heal them when the time was right
Put the sick into hospitals - these were small, no doctors, run by monks and nuns

29
Q

How many hospitals were built by Christians? In what time frame?

A

700 hospitals built between 1000AD to 1500AD

30
Q

Where did Christians put lepers, the mentally ill and those who were poor?

A

Lepers - put in Lazars
Mentally ill - put in asylums
Poor - put in infirmaries

31
Q

Was everyone allowed into hospitals in the medieval time period?

A

Mainly those who were rich, the poor were put into infirmaries

32
Q

What were Islams ideas about health?

A

Preserved Ancient Greek books by Hippocrates and Galen and translated them
Encouraged medical learning and progression - prophet Muhammad said there was a cure for every disease so they wanted to find them all

33
Q

How did Islam treat the sick?

A

Opened Bismaristans (their version of hospitals) - however doctors were always present and they cared for all, not only the rich, they treated patients and cared for them
Set up first mental hospital where they treated patients with compassion unlike Christianity (they thought mental illness was a punishment)

34
Q

When was the first Bismaristan opened? By who?

A

805AD by Caliph as-Rashid in Baghdad

35
Q

Why was Christianity significant in the development of medicine?

A

Gave comfort and care

36
Q

Why was Christianity insignificant in the development of medicine?

A

It was difficult to challenge their incorrect ideas
Saw role of the doctor as someone who predicts symptoms but doesn’t treat
Didn’t allow for the discovery of new ideas

Therefore, hindered progression

37
Q

Why was Islam significant in the development of medicine?

A

Rhazes taught about observation - distinguished measles from smallpox
Many of Islams teaching by Rhazes and Avicenna spread to Western Europe quickly
Avicenna wrote ‘Canon of Medicine’ about 760 different drugs - used until 17th century

38
Q

Why was Islam insignificant in the development of medicine?

A

Not a very popular religion in many countries - ideas didn’t spread as quickly as Christian teachings

39
Q

When was the Black Death?

A

1348

40
Q

What was the difference between the bubonic plague and pneumonic plague in the Black Death?

A

Bubonic: caused buboes, spread by fleas who bit and infected rats which then jumped onto humans, believed it was caused by rats that travelled on trade ships from China

Pneumonic: spread by coughing and sneezing, mortality rate was nearly 100%

41
Q

What were symptoms of the Black Death?

A

Fever & coughing
Infected lungs
Vomiting of blood
Buboes

42
Q

What did people think caused the Black Death?

A

Supernatural
God
Miasma
Imbalance of four humours

43
Q

What was the actual cause of the Black Death?

A

A bacteria called YERSINIA PESTIS
This thrived in fleas stomachs which lived on rats
Once rats died, humans were the next host cells

44
Q

How did people try to avoid getting the Black Death?

A

Avoided sex - too much excitement weakened you making you more likely to catch the plague
Carried a posy of sweet smelling herbs - to keep away bad scents
Marching through streets & praying
Avoided bathing - opened pores which let disease in

45
Q

How did people try treat themselves once they caught the Black Death?

A

Popped open the buboes - to release disease
Bleeding - evil released out of the body
Carry of flagellation - praying in streets and whipping yourself
Drinking vinegar and mercury