Hospital care in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries

History

In this unit, pupils learn about either migrants in Britain or medicine in Britain over a period of roughly 1000 years. They examine one of these themes, analysing the impact it had in Medieval, Early Modern, Industrial and Modern Britain, with a particular focus on change and continuity.

Thematic studies

Subjects which particular individuals may be sensitive to, eg, adoption, migration, bereavement or death, divorce, poverty, deprivation.

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Depiction or discussion of famine, disease, natural disasters.

Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Physical illness or injury, medical procedures, blood.

What word is used to describe conditions which are dirty or unhealthy and are therefore likely to cause disease?

The number of hospitals in England {{}} as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Who founded Guy's Hospital in London in 1724?

Which groups were least likely to be found staffing 18th century hospitals?

How did conditions in hospitals change during the 18th century?

focused on spiritual, not physical, recovery

often based on the Theory of the Four Humours

Why was treatment in hospitals during the 18th century often ineffective?

{{}} refers to the movement of blood around the body.

Galen incorrectly claimed that blood was made in the ...

Whose work was challenged by William Harvey's theories on blood circulation?

How many dissections were carried out by medical professors each year at Cambridge University in the late-16th century?

Most physicians stopped recommending bloodletting.

Physicians became evenly split on whether to recommend or avoid bloodletting.

Most physicians continued to recommend bloodletting.

How did William Harvey's ideas affect the use of bloodletting as a medical treatment?

Starting with the earliest, sort the following individuals into chronological order.

Content guidance

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Adult supervision required

Starter Quiz