The birth of Antisepsis
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medical studies
presentation
published 17/11/2008
review : Completed
level : General public
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Joseph Listers publication of On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery presented to the medical world Listers method of using antiseptics made from carbolic acid during surgery. Lister hoped to use disinfectants to not only effectively heal more surgical patients but to disprove the current theory that infections during surgery were caused when oxygen entered human tissue. Although it took some time, Listers use of antisepsis radically changed the way surgery was undertaken, as well as the way hospitals, physicians, and the entire medical system functioned in England. This had a profound impact on the condition and application of medical treatment in regards to the poor of the England. However, as no link has been sufficiently drawn between the quality of health care provided to the poor of England and the introduction of antiseptics into mainstream medical use by Joseph Lister, I shall answer the question: "How did the use of disinfectants by Joseph Lister and other late 19th Century physicians to change the way surgical wounds were treated affect the quality and amount of medical treatment given to the English poor from 1880 to 1912?"
Table of Contents
- Introduction.
- Lister's system of antisepsis.
- Considering the effectiveness of antiseptics in the treatment of surgical wounds.
- Physicians - skeptical of Lister's findings.
- Lister's antiseptic principles - unheard during his stay at King?s.
- Implementation of Lister's findings.
- More people begin to visit hospitals.
- The poor - welcomed and accepted in English hospitals.
- The rise of hospitals - disparages in treatment received.
- The increased costs brought about by the use of antiseptics.
- Lister's and other scientist's work with antiseptics.
- Conclusion.
