Did medicine men wear scrubs? Of course, they did not. However, the essence of the doctor s goal to cure his or her patient, was the same. Throughout human history, doctors have had different roles and used different treatments. While the earliest doctors lacked the breadth of knowledge that today s doctors possess, their mission was to make ill or injured people well again.
THE DOCTORS BEFORE WRITING
The Stone Age included the first doctors. Okay, we should use the term doctors loosely. The doctors were actually medicine men known as shamans, who practiced a very primitive form of medicine.
Instead of going to medical school, as today s physicians do, the shamans learned their trade through different ways. No written language and medical textbooks existed then. Instead, shamans had to use spoken language and demonstrations to teach their trade to apprentices.
SENSE AND SPIRITS
Perceived as gods, these shamans combined logic and religion. Obviously, they did not use the advanced techniques that today s doctors and surgeons in cheap landau scrubs use. However, they did create medicines from various plants, and used clay to set their patients broken bones.
Still, when the shamans could not comprehend a particular sickness, they would practice certain religious ceremonies. For instance, to alleviate their patients headaches, the shamans would drill holes in their patients skulls. Today, we realize that this action would create an even bigger headache. However, the shaman believed that the drilled holes would allow evil spirits to escape from his patient s head.
PILLS INSTEAD OF DRILLS
While today s doctors avoid using drills to alleviate headaches, their objective of curing patients has not ceased. From headaches to backaches, doctors strive to discover what ails their patients, and then provide a cure. However, the field of preventative medicine has become increasingly popular lately. It is based on the premise that the healthier you are, the less likely you are to become sick.
Researchers have learned that indeed, the ancient adage that cleanliness is next to godliness, is true. Cleanliness is particularly important in hospitals, where bacteria can counter medical personnel s struggle to cure patients. Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA and the superbug, is the most common bacteria in hospitals. When this bacteria enters a patient, it could result in a staph infection. Doctors could simply use antibiotics, right? The problem is that MRSA is resistant to many types of antibiotics, making it very challenging to treat.
The key is to prevent MRSA from spreading. Scrubs, the loose fitting clothing that surgical personnel often wear, are extremely hygienic, making them effective in preventing the transmission of bacteria, including the superbug. In fact, personnel in various other patient care departments, also wear scrubs today.
While the first doctors had little knowledge about science, like today s physicians, their ultimate goal was to cure their patients. Today, doctors use every strategy available, to prevent and kill illnesses. For instance, they strive to keep certain microbes from spreading in hospitals. In particular, scrubs provide a new way to keep an old bug away!