Key individuals

• Simpson


  • Anaesthetics 1847

  • Used chloroform > knocked him out > began to use it in surgeries

  • Dosage problems > death rates rose - inhalers were used to try control dosage

  • Allowed more complicated surgeries > lead to infection > death rates rose

  • Promoted by Queen Victoria during childbirth
• Lister


  • Antiseptic 1864

  •Used carbolic acid/spray to reduce infection

  • Reduced death rates from 46% to 15%

  • Increased cleanliness in surgeries (surgeons covered, instruments sterilized)

  Problems:

  > Slowed surgeries down

  > Surgeons opposed

  > More expensive

  > Cracked and irritated skin
• Pasteur

  • Germ Theory 1861
  • Disease is spread through microorganisms
  • Disproved spontaneous generation
  • Led to the making of vaccines
• Koch

  • Discovered microbes were the cause of particular diseases Improved diagnosis
  • Created anthrax vaccine
  • Applied Germ Theory to human diseases and experimented by dyeing bacteria > Proved that certain microorganisms cause certain diseases > allowed new vaccines to be made
• Nightingale

  • Nurse in Crimean war 1854
  • Hospital conditions were appalling so she made changes to the treatment of wounded soldiers (sanitation, nurses to provide care, good meals provided)
  • Mortality rate fell from 40% to 2%
  • Set up nursing college
  • Designed hospital wards to stop disease spreading
  • Wrote 'Notes to nursing'
• Jenner

  • Created Smallpox vaccine using cowpox
  • Irradicated smallpox and made inoculation unnecessary
  • Had no explanation on why the vaccine worked - medical setback as other vaccines couldn't be made the same way
• Snow

  • Discovered the cause of cholera
  • He mapped out and observed the cases of cholera until he found an anomaly and investigated
  • Found that the Broad street pump was next to the sewer and sewage was leaking into the water
  • He got the handle of the pump removed
• Chadwick

  • Wrote "report on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain"
  • Led to the public health acts