Biography of Sir Joseph Lister

2446 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Historians essays on medicine in medieval times

The Father Of Modern Surgery The hospital environment has not always been a place of sterility and extreme cleanliness that is associated with it so readily today. Prior to the work of Joseph Lister, the hospital was a place to go to die, not to be cured. If an individual was able to survive the pain and torture of surgery without anesthesia, a postoperative infection would most certainly be their ultimate demise. Thanks to Joseph Lister, later known as Baron Lister, a hospital is now a place of healing and cleanliness, not one of death and filth. Lister's Early Life: Joseph Lister was born to Joseph Jackson Lister and Isabella Harris on April 5, 1827 in Upton, England. Upton was a small village outside of the reaches of ever-growing London. Joseph's family were members of the Society of Friends and therefore he was raised in a Quaker environment. Joseph's father, Joseph Jackson Lister was also a well-known scientist known for his invention of the achromatic microscope in 1830, allowing for rapid progress in the studies of cells, bacteria and disease. (Meadows, 180). Joseph had a happy childhood with his four siblings and was a good student. He had particular interests in the fields of botany and zoology. Joseph was able to enter the University College of London in 1844. This was important because at the time entrance to the universities in England were restricted to those who would pledge an oath to the king and the church of England. Pledging such an oath was directly against the religious beliefs of the Quakers. The University College of England was a nonsectarian school and the Quakers were able to attend it. Joseph Lister received his college degree in 1847 at the age of 20. Lister wa... ... middle of paper ... ...70. - Webpages: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/medicine/nonint/indust/dt/indtbi5.shtml http://web.ukonline.co.uk/b.gardner/Lister.html http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/lis.html http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/st_simons/cr9801.htm http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/other/profmed/slides/pm021599/slide25.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1867lister.html http://limiting.tripod.com/list.htm http://www.bartleby.com/people/Lister-J.html http://www.surgical-tutor.org.uk/default-home.htm http://www.lister-institute.org.uk/ http://il.essortment.com/sirjosephliste_rcod.htm http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9910/lister.html http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/josephlister.html http://www.sciencefinder.co.uk/lister.html http://www.stlcc.cc.mo.us/fp/users/kkiser/History.page.htm- http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/bandaids/

Show More
Related

  • Joseph Ridgeway Grundy

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1877, Joe was entering the secondary division at Swarthmore, the Quaker institution serving as both a preparatory school and college (Hutton 63).

    Read More

  • Flagiello Vs Pennsylvania

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Hospitals today are growing into mighty edifices in brick, stone, glass and marble. Many of them maintain large staffs, they use the best equipment that science can devise, they utilize the most modern methods in devoting themselves to the noblest purpose of man, that of helping’s one’s stricken brother. But they do all this on a business basis, submitting invoices for services rendered.”

    Read More

  • John Hope Franklin and His Impact on History

    3261 Words  | 7 Pages

    John Hope Franklin’s childhood had a huge impact on his life and scholarship. His parents were a primary influence in his education and much of the subjects he was passi...

    Read More

  • The Discovery and Controversy over the First Use of Surgical Anesthesi

    6191 Words  | 13 Pages

    Anesthesia, “We take it for granted that we can sleep through operations without feeling any pain. But until about 150 years ago, the operating room was a virtual torture chamber because surgeons had no way to prevent the pain caused by their healing knives.”

    Read More

  • What Patients Taught Me Book Review

    2036 Words  | 5 Pages

    The authors name is Audrey Young and she has received her bachelor’s degree in history from University of California, Berkeley, and an M.D. from the University of Washington, in Seattle. She is board certified in internal medicine and was Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. She currently practices hospital medicine at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington. She has also published several other books such as, House of Hope and Fear: Life in a Big City Hospital, published in 2009, and

    Read More

  • Charles Robert Darwin's Life and Accomplishments

    2526 Words  | 6 Pages

    Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist who was born in Shrewsbury, England on February 12, 1809. He was the second youngest of six children. Before Charles Darwin, there were many scientists throughout his family. His father, Dr. Robert Darwin, was a medical doctor, and his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, was a well-known botanist. Darwin’s mother, Susannah Darwin, died when he was only eight years old. Darwin was a child that came from wealth and privilege and who loved to explore nature. In October 1825 at age sixteen, Darwin enrolled at Edinburgh University with his brother Erasmus. Two years later, Charles became a student at Christ’s College in Cambridge. His father wanted him to become a medical doctor, as he was, but since the sight of blood made Darwin nauseous, he refused. His father also proposed that he become a priest, but since Charles was far more interested in natural history, he had other ideas in mind (Dao, 2009)

    Read More

  • Healing Paradigm

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    He not only provided for people physically, he also provided for them spiritually. He healed the diseased and healed the spiritually dead. A healing hospital aspires to embody what Jesus did for mankind. They care not only for the physical needs of patients, but also considers and cares for all aspects of their health. In Matthew nine, a bleeding woman was healed because of her faith (ESV). Jesus considered not only her condition, but her spiritual health as well. This aspect of Jesus’ ministry is seen in these environments and helps healing hospitals succeed in their care of patients. This philosophy is backwards in the medical world. Only the physical needs are considered in most hospitals and this new concept has the influence to change it (Eberst, 2008). The paradigm seen from Mercy Gilbert shows that this concept helps patients and continues to serve patients in the best ways possible (Eberst, 2008). Jesus is the paradigm of healing hospitals should

    Read More

  • Early Doctors, Surgeons, and Apothecaries

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 18th century, the medical field was made up of mostly men. There were three jobs in this field: Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries. Physicians were the most elite of the three. Physicians in the 18th century had no knowledge of anything. Nobody knew that disease was spread by bacteria, germs, and viruses. Because they didn’t know this, nobody practiced sterilization or hygiene, hospital and personal.

    Read More

  • Health care Associated Infections and their Effect on The Quality of Care in US Hospitals

    2296 Words  | 5 Pages

    One factor prevalent in our nation’s hospitals which, although under-represented by the media, is significantly detrimental to the advancement of the United States healthcare system is Hospital/Healthcare Associated Infections, or HAIs. These infections were first identified as a serious threat to patient safety during the 1930s. In the 1940s, The British Medical Council appointed infection officers in various hospitals to attempt to regulate and control causes of infection, although such officers only became common in the 1950s during a severe outbreak of Staphyloccosus. After a brief investigation had been conducted, it was found that nearly 100% of patients and staff in various British hospitals had contracted elements of the virus through lack of hygienic precaution during open wound surgeries. Fortunately, the ready availability of penicillin prevented a severe outbreak, but the continued overuse of the drug resulted in drug resistant bacteria and virus and the discovery of the Staphyloccosus Aureus - a virulent skin pathogen immune to initial penicillin serums and recognized as the first antibiotic resistant bacterium - in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, the drive to control hospital infections was well established in the United States, however, the movement was unorganized and there was no success in eliminating infections associated with medical practices at the time. It was not until 1976 that the control of infectious diseases in hospitals was transformed from a movement to a mandate when The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals demanded that accredited hospitals have infection control programs. Currently the majority of research of HAIs is conducted by the CDC through The Prevention Epicenter Program, w...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Safety In The Health Care Environment

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of his article was to find a better way to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and explain what could be done to make healthcare facilities safer. The main problem that Cole presented was a combination of crowded hospitals that are understaffed with bed management problems and inadequate isolation facilities, which should not be happening in this day and age (Cole, 2011). He explained the “safety culture properties” (Cole, 2011) that are associated with preventing infection in healthcare; these include justness, leadership, teamwork, evidence based practice, communication, patient centeredness, and learning. If a healthcare facility is not honest about their work and does not work together, the patient is much more likely to get injured or sick while in the

    Read More

  • Medicine in the Middle Ages

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although surgical operations were performed, they did not know about sanitisation and there were no anaesthetics. Most patients died from infection or shock.

    Read More

  • Joseph Smith: The Latter Day Prophet

    1988 Words  | 4 Pages

    Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. His father Joseph Smith Sr. and his mother Lucy Mack Smith were poor uneducated farmers. Soon after his birth, the Smith family moved to western New York, where they continued to farm near the town of Palmyra. Joseph had five brothers and three sisters. There he spent the next four years of his life just being a kid, before moving to Manchester. (Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith History Ch.1)

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1700’s things were very different to life today; this included the medicine of the time. The idea of medicine came from the Greeks and they came up with the four humours (consisting of water, fire, air and earth.) By the 1840’s most anaesthetics were accepted as James Simpson presented a powerful case for them; however they didn’t make surgery safer and the amount of people dying from operations increased. The final breakthrough for anaesthetics was when Queen Victoria accepted the use of Chloroform during the delivery of her eighth child. Even though being anesthetised was less painful surgeons did not take any precautions to protect open wounds and infections were spread by the reuse of old bandages!

    Read More

  • My Experiences in a Nursing Career

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, It requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter´s or sculptor´s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God´s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.” Spoken by a true nurse, Florence Nightingale; a pioneer of nursing and a reformer of hospital sanitation methods.

    Read More

  • Outweighing the Ugliness of the Industrial Revolution

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    With science taking a new direction, people became healthier as vaccines, pasteurization, anesthesia, antiseptics, and the importance of personal hygiene were introduced. With the scientific advancements, scientists were able to study deadly diseases more closely. After the germ theory was introduced, Louis Pasteur developed vaccines to combat rabies and anthrax and introduced pasteurization to killed disease-carrying microbes in milk. The discovery of vaccinations enabled people to become immune to the deadly diseases out in the world. Florence Nightingale introduced the necessary sanitary measures that each hospitals should take and Joseph Lister discovered antiseptics that should be used to sterilize instruments before being used to operate surgeries. After these introductions of sanitary measures in hospitals, the rate of patients who died of infection days after the surgery decreased. People were able to live longer and survive more diseases, consequently increased the population and supply of workers.

    Read More

More about Biography of Sir Joseph Lister

Open Document