1750-1900 Doctors and training

At the start of the 18th Century and the industrial period, a doctor's training continued to be mainly theoretical,
1. But a small number of criminals' bodies were allowed to be used for dissection in medical schools and hospitals
Qualifications
1. Doctors could set up practices once they had been accepted by the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of physicians or the Society of Apothecaries
2. Medical training began to improve after 1815
  1. Where the Society of Apothecaries and the Royal College of Surgeons introduced examinations before they awarded a certificate
3. In 1858 - There was the General Medical Act
  1. This said that a General Medical Council had to be set up + all qualified doctors had to be registered
4. However...
  1. The fact that doctors could still do relatively little to treat disease - meant that they were not always respected
Practical experience
1. After Pasteur's Germ Theory-
  1. There was more emphasis on using microscopes and understanding illness
  2. Practical experience was gained by observing doctors as they worked in one of the teaching hospitals
2. Important medical schools developed in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford and London
3. As medical knowledge advanced - doctors tended to divide into:
  1. General practitioners
  2. those who specialised in specific areas of the body or types of disease.
    1. These were usually called consultants
Dissections
1. Many medical students recognised the value of dissection and studying the human anatomy personally
  1. As a result - body snatchers operated in the 18th and early 19th centuries
    1. Seizing the bodies of hanged criminals / digging up newly buried corpses
      1. In order to provide specimens for students
2. The government tried to end this practice (body snatching) -with the Anatomy Act of 1832
  1. This allowed licensed anatomists to take the corpse of anyone dying in the workhouse, who was not claimed by a relative
John Hunter - a scientific approach
1. His lectures on anatomy helped to develop a more professional approach to medical training
2. He emphasised the importance of observation and experiment
3. His students included Edward Jenner, who followed Hunter's methods when investigating cowpox
4. He employed a secretary to write up his notes + Paid an artist to draw his discoveries he made through dissection
5. He published several important works, including one about the changes that occurred in pregnancy
What affected the training of doctors?
1. Improved technology
  1. e.g. thermometers
2. Improved knowledge of disease
  1. e.g. Germ Theory
3. Introduction of medical schools and teaching hospitals
4. Improved communications
  1. e.g. medical texts, telegrams and phone
5. Improved knowledge of anatomy and physiology
  1. e.g. through dissection

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1750-1900 Doctors and training

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	Created by Greta Westwood almost 11 years ago