Doctors in the Industrial Revolution

In the late 1800's, many medical advantages took place such as the acceptance of the germ theory and anaesthetics. Anaesthetics put people in a medical induced coma and the germ theory was when they finally believed that micro organisms could cause diseases. Medical practices during the industrial revolution were carried out in either private homes or in doctors' offices. Hospitals in the large cities were usually known for being non-sanitary. Many people received diseases in the hospitals because doctors didn't yet know how they spread. The people that were wealthy enough were able to afford doctors to come to their houses. Doctors worked in large areas of geography. They would usually travel by foot or horseback which meant they had limited supplies to work with. They were also expected to treat everything from fevers to sick livestock. Over time doctors became more aware of body parts and were soon able to specialize in specific medical studies. Special tools and procedures were also created, such as the stethoscope. Stethoscopes were a new technology that was used quite often in patient examinations. A popular treatment was blood letting. This was when the doctor would cut into a patient in a specific area. It was believed to cure sickness although it was actually just causing the patient to unnecessarily lose blood. Anaesthetics were used towards the end of the century but had a risk of asphyxiation because of the use of chloroform. The doctors were limited to the patients pain tolerance and the surface of the body. Doctors were paid in goods - meaning anything of value that the patient had in place of actual currency which is common now.