Timeline of Healthcare

By 24albryant
  • Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Primitive Times

    Illness and diseases were a punishment from the Gods
    Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies
    Herbs and plants used as medicines (morphine and digitalis)
    Trepanation or trephining (surgically removing a piece of bone from the skull)
  • Period: 3000 BCE to 300 BCE

    Ancient Egyptians

    Physicians were priests
    Believed body was a system of channels for air, tears, blood, urine, sperm and feces.
    Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
  • Period: 1700 BCE to 220

    Ancient Chinese

    Believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body (holistic medicine)
    Recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based mainly on the use of herbs
    Used therapies such as acupuncture
  • Period: 1200 BCE to 200 BCE

    Ancient Greeks

    First to observe the human body and the effects of disease – led to modern medical sciences.
    Believed illness is a result of natural causes
    Used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment
    Stressed diet and exercise as ways to prevent disease
  • Period: 753 BCE to 410

    Ancient Romans

    First to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers
    Later hospitals were religious and charitable institutions in monasteries and convents
    First public health and sanitation systems by building sewers and aqueducts
  • Period: 400 to 800

    Dark Ages

    Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited
    Prayer and divine intervention were used to treat illness & disease
    Monks and priests provided custodial care for ill people
    Medications were mainly herbal mixtures
  • Period: 800 to 1400

    Middle Ages

    Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
    Bubonic Plague (Black death) killed 75% of population in Europe and Asia
    Major diseases included smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, the plague, and malaria
    Arabs began requiring physicians pass examinations and obtain licenses
    Average life span was 20-35 years
  • Period: 1350 to

    Renaissance

    Dissection of body led to increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
    Rebirth of the science of medicine
    Invention of printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared

  • 16th and 17th Century

    Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
    Invention of the microscope allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
    Apothecaries (early pharmacists) made, prescribed, and sold medications