Health+Care



Kelsey Reath Healthcare Since the 1550's and 1650's Healthcare has changed a lot. The hospitals and the medicine were nothing like we think of it today. In Elizabethan, England hospitals took people in and cared for the homeless. They based most of their belifs of medicine off of older physicans. Most things are different now then they were back then such as the hospitals, doctors, and medicine.

Medieval hospitals were attached to monasteries and run by monks and nuns (Elgin 26). They had skilled herbalists who cared for the sick, the also took in the poor and homeless (Elgin 26). In 1530, Henry VIII closed them down and bulit four royal hospitals that were created in London (Elgin 26). Elizabethan hospitals were more like a hospice, where people went for care rather than for operations or specialized treatment, but they still cared for the poor (Elgin 27). People were sent to a hospital to keep them out of society and the illness wouldn't spread (Elgin 27). Also, temporary hospitals were set up whenever there was an outbreak of a major disease (Elgin 27). Not many people were qualifed to perform operations, so very little were performed (Elgin 28).

Medicine beliefs were based on the ideas of ancient Greek physicians (Andrews 34). Galen believed in the four elements of humour air, water, earth, and fire (Senior 15). Air was the cold element, water was the the moist, earth was the dry, and fire was the hot (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). They didn't have really any type of medicine, they just believed in different folk remedies. They believed powedered armadillo bone was to cure deafness (Lace 73). Also, if you cut a dead mouse in half and placed it on a wart it was supposed to remove it (Lace 73). Scrofula, a tumor under the skin, was called "The King's Evil" because it could be cured with the touch of a ruler's hand (Lace 73). Most modern-day medicines were completely unknown (Lace 73). A few diseases were treated with chemicals such as, mercury, zinc, and arsenic which often did more harm than good (Lace 79). Natural treatments were more popular and sometimes worked (Lace 79). The most common methods of cureing a disease was bleeding that patient or purging his or her system with potions that induced vomiting or diarrhea (Andrews 34). There were no anesthetics and surgeons could only make people drowsy with alcohol opium (Elgin 28). People of this time believed magic would help heal wounds (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). Gemstones were used to rub all over them to cure them of whatever they had (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). They used gemstones garnets to keep sorrow at the bay (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). Topaz and Jacinth were used to alleviate anger (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). They also believed in astrology,they thought magic would heal them whenever they were sick (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//).

Doctors had to be a man of good education (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). You also had to pass a thorough examination, which could take up to a few hours (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). While they were in medical school they operated on corps of convicted or executed criminals (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). The main universites of the Elizabethan Era were Oxford, Cambridge, and Pauda (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). When you went to one of the medical schools you could become a physician, surgeon, barber, or apothecaries (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). Most of the beliefs were based on the ideas of ancient Greek physicans (Andrews 34). The greatest physican was William Harvey, who most people looked to for advice in medical fields during the Elizabethan Era (//Health In Shakepeare's Time//). Although, a lot of the knowledge of the human body came largely from the work of Galen (Andrews 34).

Healthcare and medical practices have really changed a lot since the Elizabethan Era. We now know that magic doesn't work to heal someone and medicine is more common than it was in Elizabethan Times. It's a good thing that we figured out how medicine actually works or we wouldn't be where we are now. Hospitals and medical workers have changed a lot too, such as, there are more choices in the medical fields and hospitals have become more widely known. Hospitals, medicine, and doctors have changed an enormous amount to get us where we are today compared to the Elizabethan Era.