Medicine through time

Medicine through time - content, activities and blog for teachers and learners of medicine through time

How much did medicine change between 1750 and 1900?

Learning Outcomes:

To identify the extent of change in medical knowledge and practice that took place in between 1750 and 1900.

Video: Medicine 1750 to 1900. Make a note of the key changes that occured in the period whilst watching this overview video.

Using the information from your video notes and your previous studies, complete the revision diagram below:

Now think about the way that these changes actually affected patients and medical practice. Consider the following illnesses, then complete a chart similar to the one below that shows how treatments had changed or stayed the same:

Illness / Condition	Treatment in 1750 and chances of recovery:	Treatment in 1900 and chances of recovery:
Example: Smallpox	In 1750 the most common attempts to prevent someone getting smallpox were inoculation or variolation. There was a risk attached to both of these preventative methods and neither was wholly successful. Smallpox killed upto 30% of people who caught the disease.	Smallpox vaccines were given to people in Great Britain. This meant that the disease was almost non existent in 1900 in this country, though it was still a problem in some other countries.
Broken leg
Influenza
Chest infection
Cholera
Add your own examples

 

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