The Enlightenment created new public hospitals across Europe, as well as promoting changing ideas about medicine. Like the Enlightenment a whole, the concept of hospitals and basis of medicine drifted away from firm religious ties, though didn’t sever them.The motivation for building new hospitals lay not in fulfilling biblical duties, as it had before, but in bettering nations. With the improvement of a population’s health came pride, security, and economic growth. Strong people made strong soldiers and merchants. Such a desire for widespread well-being prompted hospitals to not turn any patient away because of social class or nationality. The importance of diet as a factor in preventing and reversing illness was finally recognized during the Enlightenment. Every patient had a specialized eating program which would be detailed in a sheet hung at the foot of their hospital bed. Education and observation, important Enlightenment ideas, flourished in hospitals as students came to watch surgeries and participate in curing patients, a learning technique known as the “medicine of observation.”
Though there was progress in understanding the nature of illness and attempts to prevent it, old ideas lingered. Hospitals improved air circulation, seeing that sickness was easily-spread in the tight, stuffy indoors. Attempts to sanitize tools, clothes, and sheets were smartly-intentioned, but often not carried out in the rush to attend to thousands of patients. Causes of infection were not understood, but people were distancing themselves from religious explanations and trying to use scientific method. Some doctors still believed in the ancient reasoning of fluid imbalance.
Between the 18th century and today, hospitals have changed significantly. When hospitals were crowded back then, it was considered acceptable to have two patients who were assumed to have the same disease share a bed. Today, with our knowledge and technology, we can more effectively understand and prevent illness. However, the idea of a public hospital, open to all, founded in a desire to better a community without the influence of religion is the same.
Great analysis of hospitals. I really like the way you discuss the role of hospitals in changing our ideas of illness. We tend to think of hospitals as the product of our ideas about health and the body, but of course these institutions have fundamentally changed the way we think about our bodies. It would be great to include an image or two.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that back then, two people with the same illness shared beds, whereas today a lot of patients have whole rooms completely to themselves. Going along with this trend, perhaps in the future, patients will have even more space to themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the Enlightenment brought about a growing interest in science, which promoted so much enthusiasm in improving health and sanitation. It's amazing that many familiar facilities we know today such as public libraries, hospitals, coffee houses, and museums all began to develop into modernity at this time.
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