Care and treatment in the early modern period
Despite the innovations and discoveries of people such as Andreas Vesalius and Thomas Sydenham, some ideas from the medieval period about the causes of disease and illness continued to be accepted. This meant that there was a continuation in the methods generally used to care for and treat the sick.
Training of physicians
For most of the Renaissance, doctors continued to learn from the books of Galen and Hippocrates at university. However, the printing press meant different ideas were starting to become available in more accessible printed books. Towards the end of the Renaissance, there were changes as the ideas of Galen were challenged by individuals such as Vesalius, Sydenham and William Harvey.
- The training of physician A person who practices medicine. took a more scientific approach, encouraging observation and experimentation. Doctors had the opportunity to dissectionThe action of cutting apart the body of an animal or plant to examine its internal structure. bodies and learn using new technology, such as the microscopeA scientific instrument that uses a magnifying lens to allow observation of objects too small to be viewed by the naked eye.
Care of the sick
Rich people continued to pay for a doctor or nurse to look after them at home. However, most people continued to seek cheaper remedies from an apothecarySomeone like a modern-day chemist, apothecaries understood both the healing and poisonous properties of plants and herbs. and women continued to play an important role in the care of the sick. The first person to treat sickness was normally the patient鈥檚 wife or mother. In some villages, wealthy women provided charity and care for families.
Many medieval hospitals had been attached to monasteryThe building where monks live. or conventA house or residential building where a religious order of nuns live. After the ReformationThe 16th century religious revolution that led to the establishment of the Protestant churches. when Henry VIII closed the monasteries, the hospitals were taken over by local authorities. Hospitals were now funded by charity and run by physicians. In London, St Bartholomew鈥檚 was kept open in this way. Some hospitals were beginning to concentrate on treating the sick, aiming to deal with patients鈥 symptoms and illnesses. However, most hospitals continued to provide care in the form of food and warmth rather than medical cures.
Treatment of illness
There was very little change in the ways illness was treated during the Renaissance:
- bloodlettingThe process of bleeding a patient, either by using leeches or by cutting into a vein. and purgingIn historical medicine, the act of getting rid of fluid from the body for the purpose of balancing the four humours. Patients might take substances to make them vomit or empty their bowels. were still common treatments used to balance the four humours.
- Herbal remedies were still used. An increase in travel brought new ingredients to England, such as rhubarb and tobacco, that were used to treat the sick.
- Superstition and religious beliefs remained. For example, it was believed that being touched by the monarch could cure a skin disease called scrofula (also known as the 鈥榢ing鈥檚 evil鈥). The monarch was seen as God鈥檚 representative on Earth, so being touched by them was the closest people could get to being touched by God.