Becoming a physician can be only the first step in a gratifying medical career, but many choose to continue their education in a specialist area. Every physician participates in residency training in a particular medical specialty before going on to specialize in an area of medicine. In order to understand the importance each specialty plays in the successful treatment of a patient, the history of medicine must first be understood.
2000 B.C.—Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D.—That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D.—That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1920 A.D.—That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1945 A.D.—That pill is ineffective. Here, take this penicillin.
1955 A.D.—Oops . . . bugs mutated. Here, take this tetracycline.
1960–1999—39 more “oops.” Here, take this more powerful antibiotic.
2000 A.D.—The bugs have won! Here, eat this root.
—Anonymous (WHO, 2000) (Institute of Medicine pg. 1)
Medicine is the science and art of healing and covers many health care practices that have evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Every human society has some medical belief that provides explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout time the cause of illness has been thought to be the result of witchcraft, demons, adverse astral influence, or the will of the gods. (Medicine pg. 1)
Prehistoric medicine often relied on plants (herbalism), animal parts and minerals. Medicine in this age was most often related to religion in some way and was performed by priests, shamans, or medicine men. At this point, medicine was not only believed to be natural, but also very reliant on the supernatural. (Medicine pg. 1)
While it seemed that the Romans, Gree...
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During Ancient times, cure and prevention of illness and disease were not very well developed – people would blame their ill health on Gods, witches, demons or other supernatural causes. They had many theories, such as God punishing them for their sins.
Doctors usually need some type of training. In the medieval period, these doctors did not need any training to become a Nim Gimmer. “Medieval medicine appears to lack a degree of scientific knowledge. Many of the roots of medieval medical knowledge were based on the classical learning of the ancient Greeks and what they believed he human body was like, with the ideas such as the heart being control centre for the body’s activities of the brain” (Comte 140). The practitioners based their curriculum on ancient Greeks. He doctors went by a specific book which showed them how take care of their clients. Many people did not acquire to know about the knowledge of the doctor and how much they really knew about their condition. Sometimes the doctors held meetings to discuss their patient’s problems. The most common issue became a regular common cold. In the beginning of this practice, a medieval manuscript became available. “A medieval manuscript exists which contains ninety six illustrations of patients displaying their disorders to a doctor” (100). This manuscript helped the practitioners through their journey of being a doctor. Doctors were not always well received by society.
To conclude, medicine of this time was so sad that death was inevitable. They couldn’t blame the doctors or even themselves for the cause of all these diseases because they didn’t really know what to do. Doctors were experimenting and taking lives but not learning from their ineffective practices like bleeding or leeching. Religion was probably the best possible choice for that time.
Illness was treated in many ways but the main goal was to achieve a sense of balance and harmony.(p82). Applications of herbs and roots, spiritual intervention, and community wide ritual and ceremonies were all therapeutic practices.(p71). “It was the healer who held the keys to the supernatural and natural worlds and who interpreted signs, diagnosed disease and provided medicines from the grassland, woodland, and parkland pharmacopoeia.”(p18). The healers knowledge of herbs and roots and ways to administer and diagnose had been passed down from generation to generation.(p85). Healers stood as an advantage for the Aboriginal people. “Trust and a personal relationships would naturally build between the patient and the healer.”(p77). This must have ...
In the Renaissance, some aspects of medicine and doctors were still in a Dark Age. Outbreaks of disease were common, doctors were poor, medicine was primitive and many times doctors would kill a patient with a severe treatment for a minor disease! But, there were other sections where medicine and the use of medications improved greatly. This paper is written to illustrate the "light and dark" sides of medicine in the Renaissance.
Medieval medicine was made from herbs, spices, and resins. It was applied in drinks, pills, rubs, baths, washes, ointments, purges, and poultices. Head pains were treated with sweet-smelling herbs. Mixtures of henbane and hemlock were applied to aching joints. Coriander was used to reduce fever. Stomach pains were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung illnesses were given medical treatment of a medicine which was made up of liquorice and comfrey. Horehound cough syrups and drinks were used for head-colds, cough, and chest congestion. Wounds were cleaned with vinegar as it was bel...
In fact, Native American medicine men belief is firmly grounded in age-old traditions, legends and teachings. Healing and medical powers have existed since the very beginning of time according to Native American stories. Consequently they have handed down the tribe's antediluvian legends, which i...
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Long ago, when humans believed in Zeus and were polytheistic, diseases and ailments were said to be a punishment from the gods. This time period, time of the ancient Greeks, had one man step out and go beyond belief and reached above a pinnacle in the works of a physician. This man created the start of a new belief, one where illnesses and diseases were not caused by some supernatural phenomenon, yet it be caused by the works of bad choices of humans instead.
In the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” By Horace Miner, there are a few points that he is trying to put across. Firstly, it is sometimes difficult to collect accurate information about a culture when you do not belong to it. Not everything will be explained in great detail, which forces a person to make assumptions about what they are being shown or what they are hearing. Secondly, Americans seem to always believe everything that they are told from doctors because they have been highly respected for many generations and people learn from when they are very young that when they are sick, they must go see the doctor to feel well again. Lastly, People always believe that they cannot heal without medicine because doctors have been making people believe that medicine is the key to healing for many years.
Many people didn’t believe in medicine at all. The most commonly used treatment was prayer. Ordinary people relied on methods their parents and grandparents used, such as lucky charms, magic spells and herbal cures. Some of the herbal cures were quite useful.
Since the dawn of man, humans have dreaded the suffering caused by injuries and disease. For our benefit, we have enhanced the practices of Medicine and its techniques, but before such ideas existed; the risk of recovery was extremely traumatic and at times fatal. We have abandoned several of the medical procedures used in ancient times since intrepid scientists and physicians sought methods. Although medicine was not always a science, instead it was magic, thus god were trusted for a few techniques more than actual logic. Therefore, the history of medicine has been disturbing and dangerous, but a good number of its practices today used in a more modern way, is quite beneficial to humanity.
Since time immemorial, mankind has tried to find medications to remove pain and cure various diseases. A Sumerian clay slab from 5000 years ago is the oldest written evidence of the usage of medicinal plants for the preparation of drugs, in which there were 12 recipes referring to over 250 herbs (1).