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Disease Management and Prevention

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Medical Wisdom and Doctoring

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Abstract

I begin this chapter on disease management and prevention by reminding readers - venerated senior physicians and neophyte clinicians alike - that we all should strive to employ wise practice methods in the examination room and hospital. A seminal study in sensible clinical practice was conducted by Viennese obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865), who observed that obstetrical patients attended by medical students had a higher incidence of “childbed fever” than patients of midwifery students. The difference seemed to be that medical students came directly from the autopsy room to the delivery room without washing their hands, while the midwifery students had no such autopsy exposure. Semmelweis first had the medical students and midwifery students exchange wards; the higher infection rate followed the medical students. Then, in 1847, he had both groups wash their hands with chlorinated water prior to deliveries, and the rates of infection plummeted in both wards. Semmelweis’ elegant experiment set the stage for today’s sensible practice rules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA

    Robert B. Taylor

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Correspondence to Robert B. Taylor .

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Taylor, R.B. (2010). Disease Management and Prevention. In: Medical Wisdom and Doctoring. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5521-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5521-0_5

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