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Anaesthesia: Essays on Its History
2600 bc history of medicine
History of medicine essay
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Breaking news: An American dentist by the name of William Morton has found a way to reduce many patients agony during medical surgery. This substance he has used that works is called ether,which is anaesthesia. Before Morton had found ether there were other ways to knock out patients such as alcohol,but that put patients at high risk of complications.It has also been known that the older methods were not reliably effective. It was Dr. Morton’s willingness to protect patients from extreme pain while in medical surgery that will change the medical future.
Attempts of use and producing general anesthesia have been documented in history. History periods go back all the way to the time of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, and chinese.
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Germ theory was major for medical progress because it opened doors to different things. Some of those things were important progress in pharmacology and physiology, that led to the development of general anesthesia and pain control during medical procedures. After this had occurred other men besides William Morton in the likes of, Gardner Colton, Horace Wells, and Crawford W. Long had big part in the role of publicly displaying different types anaesthesia. On March 30, 1842 Crawford Long administered diethyl ether by inhalation to a man who had tumors in his neck, Long removed the tumors but did not publish his work of succes. Two years later Gardner Colton held a public demonstration of another type anesthesia called nitrous oxide which was successful. Colton started using nitrous oxide on his patients and performed several triumphant dental operations. Then in 1846 William Morton administered diethyl ether to a man from Boston for a dental operation. Morton became the first person to publicly demonstrate the use of diethyl ether as general anaesthesia at Massachusetts general hospital. Morton is now considered the pioneer of general anesthesia in the western world. With him being considered as the pioneer of general anaesthesia, that drew other other men to claim it was there idea first, but it doesn't matter because now people now don't have to suffer from excruciating pain, they suffer no
Brody, Michael, and Donald Martin. “The Role of Anesthesiologists.” Physicians Protecting Patients. N.p. N.d. Web. October 21, 2015. An anesthesiologist is a physician who has received at least 8 years of schooling and has completed a residency program dealing with anesthesiology. Now, a licensed physician, an anesthesiologist deals with the administration of anesthesia during many medical procedures, including surgical or obstetric procedures, and pain management for acute and chronic illnesses, or cancer related pain. Anesthesiologists are also in charge of “anesthesia care teams” that include the anesthesiologist, an anesthesia assistant, certified registered nurse anesthetist, and an anesthesia technician. As the leader of the care team, the anesthesiologist is responsible for assessing the patient before, during, and after medical procedures, as well as developing and monitoring performance and quality of practices and standards in regards to administering anesthesia. The entirety of
William Clark was ½ of the genius team that made their way through miles of unknown land, unknown nature, unknown natives, and came home with all but one voyager, who was killed of natural causes. William Clark and Meriwether Lewis were the first Americans to try and map the Louisiana Purchase area, and not only did they map it, they discovered allies, new plants and animals, and discovered new land and water routes that could be useful for future travelers.
Anesthesia was not used in surgeries until 1846, so prior to that the patient was completely conscious when they operated on him or her, unless the patient passed out from pain. Patients were unwilling to be cut into while they were awake: “Dragged unwillingly or carried from the ward to the operating theatre by a couple of hospital attendants (in Edinburgh a large wicker basker was used for this purpose) the patient was laid on the operating table and if necessary strapped down” (Youngson 27). The tools used in surgeries can be seen here. Anesthetics Anesthetics were not used in surgery until October 16, 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital (Youngson 51). Anesthesia is an inhaled gas known as ether.
On October 16th, 1846 the world of surgery changed forever. Taking place in the Ether Dome at Mass General Hospital was the surgical removal of a tumor in a man’s neck. The surgeon was the world renowned Doctor John Warren. Before Doctor Warren could slice into the man’s neck, William TJ Morten, a dentist, ran into the room. He presented a bag filled with a gas called Ether, and swore that he could erase all of the patient’s pain. He had tested this gas on himself, his dog, and his goldfish. Doctor John Warren gave him permission to try out this relatively untested gas on his patient. For the first time in surgical history, the Ether Dome stayed silent throughout the surgery. No screaming, no flailing, and no burly men needed to hold the patient down (Decoding The Void). Soon Doctors all over the world were using general anesthesia, and history was made.
Volles, D. F. (2011, April 11). University of Virginia Health System Adult and Geriatric Sedation/Analgesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures. Retrieved May 12, 2011, from University of Virgina Health System: University of Virginia Health System Adult and Geriatric Sedation/Analgesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures
Anesthesia is used in almost every single surgery. It is a numbing medicine that numbs the nerves and makes the body go unconscious. You can’t feel anything or move while under the sedative and are often delusional after being taken off of the anesthetic. Believe it or not, about roughly two hundred years ago doctors didn’t use anesthesia during surgery. It was rarely ever practiced. Patients could feel everything and were physically held down while being operated on. 2It wasn’t until 1846 that a dentist first used an anesthetic on a patient going into surgery and the practice spread and became popular (Anesthesia). To this day, advancements are still being made in anesthesiology. 7The more scientists learn about molecules and anesthetic side effects, the better ability to design agents that are more targeted, more effective and safer, with fewer side effects for the patients (Anesthesia). Technological advancements will make it easier to read vital life signs in a person and help better decide the specific dosages a person needs.
Individuals need to understand the use of anesthesia always comes with risks. In most cases, however, it's safe when administered by someone with the proper training. Certain individuals, such as those with obstructive sleep apnea or ones who are obese, need to speak to their physician before being sedated, as their risk of complications is higher.
Anesthesia has been used throughout medical history; the purpose of anesthesia is to prevent pain during surgery or any other medical procedure. Claudia M. Caruana (2010) mentions that anesthesia works by blocking nerve signals from going to the brain to allow the body to respond to and try to stop the pain (p. 8). Anesthesia has many different uses for many different types of surgeries from using very powerful sedatives for intensive surgeries to using very light sedatives like nitrous oxide to relieve the pain. All of the drugs in the anesthesiologist’s arsenal have different uses for different occasions which can be a benefit and can also be a defect.
Because of anesthetics, people do not have to go through an unbearable procedure. Many soldiers in the American Revolution and Civil War would have probably desired anesthesia during a decapitation of an arm or leg. Before anasthtics, people had to bite down on a stick and/or drink alcohol. Many people do not acknowledge those who develop Anesthesia. Anesthesia had along process of numerous types of experiments, and most were either a fail or success. In the book, Kill or Cure: An Illustrated History of Medicine by Steve Parker, he states that the first couple discoveries include in 1660s where Thomas Sydenham, who combined opium, alcohol, and other ingredients to produce laudanum. Laudanum achieved pain relief; However, the drug was addicting. In addition, German scientist Valerius Cordus discovered how to make “ether” from ethanol and sulfuric acid in the 1540s. Dentist William Morton’s was the first use ether. He demonstrated at the Massachets General Hostpital. Before ether, People had their teeth extracted without any pain relievers. They had to sustain the pain or they will have to live with a toothache. In 1830, German Pharmacist Moldenhawer produced chloroform. In 1853, under Dr. Snow’s supervision, Queen Victoria of England took chloroform for the birth of her son Leopold, and four years later, for her daughter Beatrice. Queen Victoria had great reviews of chloroform, and she took it for almost every child she had. Queen Victoria had said "chloroform was a blessing to have". Many people began to love anesthesia because it was either the drug or go through pain that will not allow the doctor to do his/her job. Back in the US, ether faded as chloroform became the favored drug. However, chloroform had dangerous sometimes fatal side effects, so by the early 20th century, chloroform was replaced. Since then new, safer, and more effective general anesthetics including ethyl chloride 1903, ethylene 1920s,
The word anesthesia is used to describe the process of making a patient unconscious which allows them to be free of surgical pain. There are two main types of anesthetics that were used when for surgical anesthesia, ether and chloroform, that developed around the same time. They were both developed in the 1840’s, but chloroform was used more often since it worked faster and was non-flammable. These anesthetics were indispensible tools to the medical doctors during the Civil War. Boston dentist William T.G. Morton was f...
Jack Philips, who is the owner of masterpiece cake shop refused to make a wedding cake for the same sex marriage based on his religious belief. Same sex marriage is singed into the law, and now it is legal in the United States. But, it doesn’t mean that the new couples always get the same services as the other couples receive such as wedding cakes, flowers, photographs, or venues. The issue with the Philips is that Colorado, and the 21 other states has a law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. According to USA TODAY’S report, the problem arose when Charlie Craig and David Mullins came into Philips’s shop to have a cake for their wedding reception. Their wedding already was held in Massachusetts, where the same sex marriage is
1550 B.C — Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo is the first recorded physician to use cannabis as an anesthetic during surgery.
In those 64 years, surgeons made many discoveries that caused important advancements in the world of surgery. There were new ways of dealing with infection that also improved public health (Porter 110). These consisted of washing wounds with vinegar, wine, freshly voided urine, or boiled water, then cleaning the wound of foreign objects, then covered in a simple bandage meant it would heal without trouble (Magner 295). These ideas were discovered by Joseph Lister around 1865. Lister was the first to challenge the idea that infection of a wound was inevitable. He found that if a wound was covered in a clean lint dressing and soaked in linseed oil and carbolic then it would not get infected (Porter 231). This discovery was called antisepsis. However, his ideas were not widely accepted. In fact, many surgeons did not like the smell of carbolic, and other’s problems with this were the reason his teachings were not accepted by the American Surgical Association (Porter 231). Another example of the improvement of public health was handwashing. In earlier practices, surgeons did not wash their hands because it was not proven effective until after 1867, and would go from the morgue to laboring women which caused the infant and female mortality rates to increase (Williams). However, Lister also found handwashing helps prevent infection at the same time he discovered the wound dressing (Porter 231). So, during the Victorian era, hand
It started somewhere in the Middle Ages. The main groups to start to practice this job were the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and, Chinese. The discoveries in the 1800 century caused the practical use of anesthetics in the modern world, but two very large leaps in this practice were in the late 1900’s. These discoveries were the germ theory of disease. According to ABPI Louis Pasteur discovered founded this theory. The cause of his discovery was from when his 3 girls died of infectious diseases. He observed these diseases and used them as his first real points to prove his theory. Burnell R. Brown, M.D is one of the most famous anesthesiologist because he was the first chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology in Arizona, he served in the military and specialized in drug biotransformation and interests in inhalation methods of anesthesiology. He authored more than a dozen books and better helped the knowledge of our
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, surgery is defined as, “the treatment of injuries or diseases by cutting open the body and removing or repairing the damaged part, or an operation of this type (“Surgery Definition”).” In many cases, anesthetics are used to make patients unaware of the procedure. By doing so, the patient cannot feel any pain or recall the surgery, in turn decreasing the trauma experienced by the patient. The increased use of anesthetics has led to the better outcome for the patients undergoing major surgery, allowing them to feel no pain in procedures that were once unbearably painful (Borel).