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hippocrates contribution to medicine
hippocrates contribution to medicine
2600 bc history of medicine
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The Contribution of Hippocrates to Medicine
Greek doctors tried to understand what caused disease through careful
observation of people who were ill. They saw that when someone was ill
there was usually a liquid coming out of the body, for example phlegm
from nose or vomit from the stomach. They decided that these liquids
(which they called humours) must somehow be the causes of illness. The
liquid or humour must be coming out of the body because there was too
much of it. The humours had got out of balance with each other.
Hippocrates, the most famous Greek doctor, who developed the theory of
the four humours, told all of his students that illnesses could be
treated without the use of magic. He said all they had to do was
discover the nature of each disease. Then they would be able to treat
it.
The Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is still used today. It makes clear that doctors
do not use magic. They have to keep high standards of treatment and
behaviour and work for the benefit of patients rather than making
themselves rich. This also offered patients the right to
confidentiality.
Books
The Hippocratic collection contains books which doctors used for
centuries. Hippocrates may not have written all of these books and
historians cannot tell who did write them. This collection is
important because it is the first detailed list of symptoms and
treatments. Doctors continued to use the theories of Hippocrates as
the basis of their own work for hundreds of years.
Recording and Observing
Hippocrates showed how important it was to observe and record
carefully the symptoms and development of diseases. This had two
advantages. Doctors were more likely to choose the right cure if they
took care to find the cause of the problem. These notes could also be
used to help with the diagnosis and treatment of future patients.
Causes of disease & natural treatments
Hippocrates developed the theory of the four humours to explain the
causes of disease.
The ideas, decisions and actions we make today shape our tomorrow. The same can be said for our past. Globally, our history has molded the development of the political, economical and philosophical system we have today. One of the biggest influences of history comes from Ancient Greece, and a man by the name of Hippocrates. Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician and philosopher, practiced and taught medicine to his students. His philosophies and practices influenced the development of Western modern medicine.
In medicine there were many things that changed and some that stayed the same between 1350 and 1750. Initially I will be looking at medicine and treatment in the Ancient World as a prelude to its importance during the Renaissance period, and also the influence it may have had in the Middle Ages.
Furthermore, the basic knowledge all these doctors knew were: There are only four elements in the world,each element represented a humour, and all four humours are balanced in the human body. Humours are “natural bodily fluids. They correspond to the elements and have various qualities: cold, dry, hot, and moist.” (Ross) The four elements are: earth, air, water, and fire. The Humour for earth was black bile meaning melancholic or sad - black bile really is the foam off the top of blood. Air’s humour is blood meaning sanguine or lusty. Water’s humour may gross people out… it’s phlegm meaning phlegmatic or sluggish. Lastly fire’s humour is yellow bile meaning temperamental or angry - yellow bile is also choler (Ross). All four humours are supposed to be balance the cause of diseases were if one was out of balance (Alchin).
Professor comments: In this paper, the student synthesizes several sources about nineteenth-century medicine and medical education into a focused and coherent essay that provides information about aspects of this topic especially relevant to understanding Lydgate's position in Middlemarch: the differences among physicians, apothecaries, and surgeons, both in terms of training and duties on the one hand, social status on the other; the processes by which someone obtained a medical education and became a licensed practitioner; and the differences in English, Scottish, and French training. In doing so, the student displays an awareness of the importance of the contextual material for more than merely factual purposes, and she employs a principle of selection, concentrating on material that will facilitate her interpretation of Lydgate's role in the novel--especially in the connection between medical and political reform--in a separate essay.
After reading the classic and modern Hippocratic Oath, it is my contention that the modern vision is still applicable today. First of all, I appreciate the humility of the oath because this oath reminds physicians that they are caring for people not just illness: “I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability” (Tyson, 2001). Sometimes, patients get lost in the shuffle of medicine; they are much more than an illness and need to be treated as such. Patient centeredness is reflected in this oath.
Although he lived four centuries before the birth of Christ, a man named Hippocrates recorded the symptoms of diseases we still see to this day. Known as the “Father of Medicine” (Hippocrates), Hippocrates was an ancient physician who studied and recorded his observances of the body’s infections and physiology. He set forth the foundation for future physicians, and in doing so, is accredited for our knowledge of infectious diseases in earlier centuries. During this time however, many believed the earth and its inhabitants were composed of four general elements: air, water, fire, and dirt. They also believed that any one person who fell ill was being punished by the gods. As a foresighted thinker though, Hippocrates encouraged the idea that humans became ill due to natural causes. In that wisdom, he recorded all his observances of his patients and their illnesses, taking careful note of the bodily symptoms and their progression.
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.
With the creation of Medicare in 1966 in order to expand access for the elderly to the American healthcare system, the ways in which medicine and its corresponding industries were conducted were irrevocably changed. Prior to its inception, only 65% of people over 65 actually had proper health insurance, as the elderly paid three times as much for healthcare as young people (Stevens, 1998). The private medical sector had much more control over who they would treat, how much they would charge, and more; the passing of Medicare freed up the elderly to have reasonable access to healthcare as a consequence of a lifetime of paying into the system.
of medicine. Born on the island of Kos, Greece in the year 460 b.c., says the
Wrong theories of the anatomy have been assumed to be correct for thousands of years. Theories of using a scientific base were not used by the Europeans until the Renaissance period (“Medicine”). These theories, made by a Greek Physician named Galen, were supported by the Catholic Church. The Middle Ages were a difficult time to achieve medical advances because Galen’s theories were not to be questioned or tested(“The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine”).Even after these theories appeared to be inaccurate, the support from such a high authority made it extremely difficult to change the medical practices and training(“Rennaissance medicine”).
Early Greek medicine was more of a divine matter. It was believed that the God Asclepius was the god of medicine. Priests would live at his temples and claimed they knew the ways of healing people. It was not until around 500 B.C., a Greek physician named Alcmaeon began to dissect animals to observe their skeleton, muscles, and brain. This was most probably the first ever to describe a phenomenon through objective observations. Through his observations, he believed that illness was due to an imbalance in the body. This idea prevailed for many centuries in the history of medicine.
Both the Hippocratic Oath and Principles of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association focuses on giving full benefit to the patient. However, there are some major differences between the oath and medical ethics of American Medical Association on various subjects such as patient’s rights, duties of physicians towards the benefit of the society etc.
As the centuries unrolled and new civilizations appeared, cultural, artistic, and medical developments shifted toward the new centers of power. A reversal of the traditional search for botanical drugs occurred in Greece in the fourth century BC, when Hippocrates (estimated dates, 460-377 BC), the "Father of Medicine," became interested in inorganic salts as medications.
Hippocrates was a Greek physician that left a legacy that existed during his lifetime in Classical Greece and continues today. His moral and ethical standards were the foundation of his teachings, along with his meticulous writings concerning the study of the human body. He firmly believed that poor health and disease were the result of a natural process that could be discovered and cured through careful clinical reasoning and observations. Hippocrates travelled throughout Greece teaching and describing disease symptoms, and taught doctors how to analyze and treat specific illnesses or diseases. Hippocrates’s accomplishments give him the respect from doctors and medical professionals around the world that continues even today.
The First World War of 1914 through 1918 was the beginning of new era of medical innovations and advancements that were infrequently glorified and somewhat held in high prestige. Beginning in the earlier stages of the war, there was uncertainty in hygienic medical practices and education through notable doctors expertise unfamiliar. Therefore, in the later stages of the war, developing medical knowledge emerged through an increasing need for doctors. Evidently a noteable doctor, Harvey Williams Cushing, aspired to be a change for surgeons and first aid responders in the war. From 1905 on, Harvey Williams Cushing, advanced neurosurgery through a series of operations through his writings. Cushing led a pathway to a team of doctors who perpetually enhanced the performance of medical care today.