Introduction to Health Science
UNIT 1 - INTRODUCTION
Objective 1: History of health care - Lecture Notes
CREATE A HISTORICAL TIMELINE
Health care has developed and changed throughout history. The experiences and
discoveries of the past have led to the advances of today. We could not have the
achievements of today without the trials and errors of the past. If we can understand the
primitive beginnings of medicine, we will be able appreciate the medical advances made
during the past 5,000 years.
4000 BC - 3000 BC –
Primitive Times - Believed that illness and disease caused by supernatural spirits and
demons. Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies to drive out evil spirits.
 Herbs and plants used as medicine.
 Trephining, or boring a hole in the skull was used to treat insanity, epilepsy, and
headache.
3000 BC - 300 BC –
Ancient Egyptians - Earliest people known to maintain accurate health records.
 Priests act as physicians.
o They used medicine to heal disease and splinted fractures.
o Used bloodletting (draining blood) to treat disorders with the use of
leeches.
 Called upon the gods to heal them when disease occurred.
1700 BC - 220 AD –
Ancient Chinese - Religious prohibitions against dissection resulted in inadequate
knowledge of the body structure.
 First to use acupuncture therapies.
 Learned to treat diseases with stone tools.
1200 BC - 200 BC –
Ancient Greeks - began modern medical science by observing human body and effects
of disease.
 Hippocrates (460-377 BC) called the Father of Medicine:
o Developed an organized method to observe the human body.
o Recorded signs and symptoms of many diseases.
o Wrote the standard of ethics, the Oath of Hippocrates, used by physicians
today.
 Found disease was caused by the lack of sanitation.
 Aristotle (384-322 BC) dissected animals and is called the founder of
comparative anatomy.
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Introduction to Health Science
753 BC - 410 AD –
Ancient Romans - First to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers.
 Early hospitals developed when physicians care for ill people in rooms in their
homes.
 The Romans developed a sanitation system by learning from the Greeks.
o Created aqueducts to carry clean water to the cities.
o Built sewers to carry waste materials away from cities.
o Used filtering systems in public baths to prevent disease.
 Claudius Galen (129-199 AD), a physician, established many medical beliefs.
o Considered dissection as a key to understanding the human body, but
was restricted by law to dissect animals.
o Paid a lot of attention to feeling a patient’s pulse as a tool to diagnose
disease and suggest treatment.
400-800 AD –
Dark Ages- Medicine was only practiced in convents and monasteries.
 Prayer and divine intervention were used to treat illness and disease.
 Monks and priests provided custodial care for sick people.
 Medications were mainly herbal mixtures.
800-1400 AD –
Middle Ages - Renewed interest in the medical practice of Greeks and Romans.
 A pandemic (worldwide epidemic) of the bubonic plague (black death) killed ¾ of
the population of Europe and Asia.
 Major diseases were smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and syphilis.
1350-1650 AD –
Renaissance - Rebirth of the science of medicine.
 Medical schools and universities were built for research.
 People searched for new ideas about disease rather than the unquestioning
acceptance of disease as the will of God.
 Dissection of the body began to allow a better understanding of anatomy and
physiology.
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) studied and recorded the anatomy of the body.
 Development of the printing press allowed knowledge to spread to others.
 First anatomy book was published by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564).
16th and 17th Centuries –
 William Harvey (1578-1657) described the circulation of blood to and from the
heart in 1628.
 Anton van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope in 1666, and established that
there is life smaller than the eye can see.
 Gabriel Fallopius (1523-1562) identified the fallopian tubes in the female.
 Bartolomeo Eustachio identified the Eustachian tube leading from the ear to the
throat.
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Introduction to Health Science

Apothecaries (early pharmacists) made, prescribed, and sold medications.
18th Century –
Many discoveries were made requiring a new way for medicine to be taught. Students
attended lectures, and attended classroom labs, as well as observing patients at their
bedside. When patients died, their bodies were dissected to observe the disease
process.
 Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) became the first female physician in the United
States in 1849.
 Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) discovered the element oxygen in 1774.
 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) invented bifocals for glasses.
 Edward Jenner (1749-1823) developed a vaccination for smallpox in 1796.
19th Century –
The nineteenth century was the beginning of the organized advancement of medical
science.
 Ignaz Semmelweiss discovered the importance of hand washing.
o He found mothers that had their babies delivered by midwives did not get
infected with childbed fever.
o Mothers that delivered their babies with a physician were getting infected
because the physicians didn’t wash their hands or change aprons after
dissecting dead bodies.
 Rene Laennec (1781-1826) invented the stethoscope in 1819.
 Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was the founder of modern nursing:
o Established efficient and sanitary nursing units during Crimean War in
1854.
o Opened Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas's
Hospital in London.
 Clara Barton (1821-1912) founded the American Red Cross in 1881.
 Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) known as the Father of Microbiology - contributed
many discoveries to the practice of medicine including:
o Proving that microorganisms cause disease.
o Pasteurizing milk to kill bacteria.
o Creating a vaccine for rabies in 1885.
 Joseph Lister (1827-1912) started using disinfectants and antiseptics during
surgery to prevent infection in 1885.
 Ernest von Bergmann developed asepsis.
 Robert Koch (1843-1910) developed the culture plate method to identify
pathogens and also isolated the bacteria causing tuberculosis.
 Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923) discovered X-rays in 1895.
 Paul Ehrlich discovered the effect of medicine on disease-causing
microorganisms. His discoveries brought about the use of chemicals to fight
disease. On his 606th experiment, found a treatment to treat syphilis.
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Introduction to Health Science
20th Century Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) studies formed the basis for psychology and
psychiatry.
 Carl Landsteiner classified the ABO blood groups in 1901.
 Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered and used insulin to treat diabetes
in 1923.
 Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) discovered penicillin in 1932.
 Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in 1952.
 Albert Sabin (1906-1993) used a live polio virus vaccine.
 The first heart-lung machine was used for open-heart surgery in 1953.
 An arm severed at the shoulder was successfully reattached to body in 1962.
 Francis Crick and James Watson described the molecular structure of DNA, and
were able to explain how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is coded
on it.
 Christian Barnard performed the fist successful heart transplant in 1968.
 The first "test tube" baby was born in England in 1978.
 Genetic engineering led to development of vaccines against hepatitis, herpes
simplex, and chicken pox in the 1980's.
 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a disease in
1981.
 Sheep were cloned in 1997.
IDENTIFY CURRENT TRENDS IN HEALTHCARE
21st Century –
 New approaches to medical care are being discovered every year.
 People are being taught more about wellness and are learning more about health
care.
 Healthy no longer just refers to a person’s physical health. It refers to a person’s
emotional, social, mental, and spiritual wellness.
 Doctors often practice telemedicine. Health care providers can use technology to
send important medical information to patients or other health care providers.
 People are healthier and are living longer lives.
 New procedures and inventions are changing peoples lives including:
o Eliminating disease through genetic research.
o Transplanting organs from a donor to recipient.
o The ability to reattach severed body parts.
o Use of computers to help with patient care.
o Noninvasive techniques are being used to help with diagnoses.
o Advancements in caring for an unborn fetus.
o Acceptance of alternative medicine and complementary medical practices.
Standard One – Introduction
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Utah State Office of Education