History of Medicine
History of Medicine

Author: Rebecca Greene

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 1135818916

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In this comprehensive and stimulating volume, the history of medicine is approached from a variety of perspectives to develop a well-rounded, objective overview. Historians examine the effects of society on medicine and of medicine on society and trace transformations in the the thought and practices of the medical and allied professions. History of Medicine explores the practice and philosophy of medicine--as it existed in ancient Greece and the Middle Ages, shedding light on the religion, politics, and social attitudes of those periods and as it existed until very recently in the United States. This highly readable book provides a wealth of information on the history of several significant social movements in which the medical profession has played a dominant role in influencing family life and values, including the dispensation of knowledge about birth control, women’s access to abortion, and the advent of pediatric medicine and the well baby movement. Chapters also examine the failure of the medical profession to consider the historical context of diseases and treatments in understanding diseases as they exist today and the conflict between doctors and professional historians as to the accuracy and importance of the existing history of medicine.

History of Medicine
History of Medicine

Author: Jacalyn Duffin

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2021-06-29

Total Pages: 555

ISBN-13: 1487539843

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Jacalyn Duffin's History of Medicine is one of the leading texts used to teach the history of the medical profession. Emphasizing broad concepts rather than names and dates, it has also been widely appreciated by general readers for more than twenty years. Based on sound scholarship and meticulous research, History of Medicine incorporates pithy examples from a range of periods and places and is infused with the author’s characteristic wit. The third edition has been completely revised to highlight new scholarship on the past and incorporate significant medical events of the most recent decade – including new technologies, drug shortages, medical assistance in dying, and recent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola, H1N1, Zika, and COVID-19. The book is organized around themes of scientific and clinical interest, such as anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, surgery, obstetrics, medical education, health-care delivery, and public health. It includes a chapter on how to approach research in medical history, updated with new resources. History of Medicine is sensitive to the power of historical research to inform current health-care practice and enhance cultural understanding.

Writing the Pulse
Writing the Pulse

Author: Sandra W. Moss MA MD

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2018-03-26

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1543463592

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The sphygmograph was one of the promising instruments of precision that captured the imagination of mid- and late-nineteenth-century physicians eager to plumb the secrets of the circulatory system. Literally a pulse writer, the sphygmograph allowed physicians to study a permanent record (sphygmogram) of the contours and rhythms of the pulse wave. The early masters of the sphygmograph were hopeful that images of the pulse at the wrist could reveal much about the action of the heart and major blood vessels that would prove useful in research and practice. Although the sphygmograph proved to be a frustrating instrument and its pulse recordings confusing, it prepared early twentieth-century physicians to embrace more reliable technologies, such as the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) and the electrocardiograph. This book traces the European invention, development, and application of the sphygmograph before turning to a detailed study of the novel instruments and clinical investigations of three heretofore unremarked American sphygmograph men and the role of the sphygmograph in American medical practice, most notably in the hands of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi. A final chapter examines the pervasive problems of the sphygmograph in the context of recent literature on apparent failures of technology.