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Medicine/Behavioral Science

The Blue Baby Operation

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Exhibit
  • Images
  • Library/Archive
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/page1.htm

Author: 
Marjorie Winslow Kehoe
Excerpt: 

On November 29, 1944, a small, frail child was wheeled into an operating room at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for the first attempt to treat tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart malformation that robs the blood of oxygen. This life-threatening condition is often signaled by a bluish or "cyanotic" cast to the skin, hence the term, blue baby. The procedure joined an artery leaving the heart to an artery leading to the lungs, in an attempt to give the blood a second chance at oxygenation. It was the first blue baby operation and came to be known as the Blalock-Taussig Shunt.

Annotation: 

This site is the companion to a 1995 exhibit that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the first "Blue Baby Operation," a procedure designed to treat a congenital heart defect that deprives the blood of oxygen. The procedure was pioneered by a surgical team that included Alfred Blalock, Helen B. Taussig, and Vivien T. Thomas. The site contains a description of the procedure, an account of the idea, several images, and notes on the three main contributors. A link to further readings also directs visitors to related information as well as the manuscript archives of Blalock, Taussig, and Thomas.

Feminist Women's Health Center Personal Stories

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Consumer Technology
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Non-Profit
URL: 

http://www.fwhc.org/

Author: 
Feminist Women's Health Center
Excerpt: 

Pregnancy represents a true fork in the road of life. One can never know what would have happened had she gone the other way. Read women's stories to gain strength and connection with other women.

If you would like to share your story, please write it down and send it via email. We will assume you want us to publish it here.

Annotation: 

The Feminist Women's Health Center has a comprehensive website about issues related to women's health and also includes an amazing collection of stories submitted by visitors to the clinic or the website, becase they believe that "feminism begins with women sharing their experiences." The section "Many Voices - Many Choices" includes experiences with terminations of pregnancy, birth control, and related issues. Stories by teenagers are included in another "Many Voices - Many Choices" section, and poetry and prose from visitors to the site is featured as well. Stories and writings are submitted via email or through the guestbook on the website, where they also invite women to share their personal definitions of feminism.

Review: 

The Feminist Woman's Health Center (FWHC) of Yakima, Washington was established in 1980 by two women who wanted to "bring reproductive choice to women in the large rural area known as Central Washington." Now the Center operates three clinics throughout Washington State: the Cedar River Clinic in Renton, Cascade Family Planning in Tacoma, and A Woman's Choice Clinic in Yakima. Modeled after the Feminist Woman's Health Centers in California that grew out of the Women's Liberation Movement and inspired by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, the FWHC of Washington State defines its mission as "to achieve reproductive freedom for women."

Primarily the FWHC website serves as a portal to information regarding women's health issues. Some highlights include medical, safety and legal information about abortion; health related information about birth control, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); tips on breast care, sexuality education, and eating healthy; and information about the menstrual cycle, menopause, and woman's medical conditions and diseases. There is also a regularly updated portal to reproductive health news and editorial sources, as well as various "herstories" about reproductive rights and watershed events.

As a feminist organization interested in contemporary woman's rights issues, the FWHC helps to organize local, state, and national protests and rallies and encourages its visitors to get involved. Consequently it provides a links page dedicated to activist organizations and causes. The main links page supplies more than 400 links to pro-choice, feminist, and health websites, as well as online discussion groups and email newsletters . In addition, the site supplies links to a vast amount of resources, including books, videos, periodicals, woman's hotlines, and abortion providers.

Under the assumption that "telling personal stories heals us," the site gives visitors the opportunity to submit personal stories about their experiences with birth control, abortion, pregnancy, and other women's issues. Stories can be submitted by email or by signing the guestbook. Believing that "knowledge leads to empowerment," the site answers more than 40 reproductive and health related questions in its extensive FAQs section. There is also a merchandise section that sells various feminist books, posters, a self exam kit, a speculum, and other items.

The Feminist Woman's Health Center website is thoughtfully designed and content rich. The overall layout and aesthetic appeal is quite good; this reviewer found no broken links, unloaded images, or typographical errors. The search functionality is outsourced to a decent search hosting service, which provides clear and useable search results. Navigation is straightforward and user-friendly considering the vast amount of information on hand – although it would be more convenient to have a link to the homepage in the header of the site, not only the footer. Moreover, the homepage sidebar menu is so well designed one wonders why it's not also available throughout the site. Taken together the website is successful in presenting the wide-ranging issues behind abortion rights and woman's reproductive health.

Jim Safley
Center for History and New Media
March 16, 2004

From Birth to Death at the Pan-American Exposition

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Images
  • Library/Archive
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
  • University
URL: 

Author: 
The Libraries, University at Buffalo
Excerpt: 

This portion of the exhibit, Illuminations: Revisiting the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901, provides a fascinating glimpse into the general state of health care and medical technology available at the turn of the century. What could attendees at the Exposition expect in terms of hygiene and health care? Were restroom facilities provided, and were they kept clean? Were doctors and medical equipment available on the grounds? Who drove the ambulance that carried the wounded President McKinley?

Annotation: 

From Birth to Death is part of a larger site devoted to the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901. By examining the health care provided at such a large popular event, this site offers an interesting perspective on the state of health and medicine at the turn of the century. The heart of the site is made up of eight articles detailing topics ranging from lavatory facilities to several of the fair's medical exhibits. The articles are also supplemented by images and quotes. At least one more article on international nursing conventions may also be added soon.

Medical Antiques

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Artifacts
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Images
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Personal
URL: 

http://medicalantiques.com/

Author: 
Douglas Arbittier, M.D.
Excerpt: 

An on-going educational project for those interested in collecting and learning more about these fascinating medical artifacts. Specializing in cased surgical sets, bloodletting artifacts, and medical instruments. If you are seeking research, photos, information, pricing, and people who are passionate about medical and surgical history... this is the place to visit.

Evaluation and identification of historical pieces can be provided for medical, surgical, and bloodletting items like those displayed on this site.

ARMY NURSE CORPS HISTORY

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Government
  • Images
  • Industrial/Military Technology
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
URL: 

http://history.amedd.army.mil/ANCWebsite/anchhome.html

Author: 
Army Nurse Corps Historian
Excerpt: 

The U.S. Army Nurse Corps Historical Collection is a branch of The Office of Medical History, which is a part of the OTSG/MEDCOM Historical Program. Our mission is to support the men and women of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps through the assembly and publication of reference materials, oral histories, original works, web publications, special studies, AMEDD newspaper/professional publications and print series. The dedication and commitment of the past members of this great Corps have shaped who we are today. This website offers a wealth of information regarding U.S. Army Nurse Corps History.

Bibliography of Canadian Health Sciences Periodicals

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Library/Archive
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
URL: 

http://www.health.library.mcgill.ca/osler/canjournals/contents.htm

Author: 
David S. Crawford
Excerpt: 

This bibliography was initially compiled in the mid -1970s by Charles Roland and Paul Potter, it was published by the Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine - Associated Medical Services in 1979. This revised and updated online edition has been produced with the encouragement of both Dr. Roland and Dr. Potter and the permission of Associated Medical Services.

The initial intention was simply to digitise the printed work but on closer examination it was clear that revisions and additions were needed. Dr. Roland had collected some of these since 1979 and events such as the closure and merger of libraries had made the location listings for the titles quite inaccurate. After considerable thought it was decided to eliminate this feature from the online edition because since 1979 the advent of online library catalogues and, in particular, the free availability of the Canadian union catalogue, AMICUS. (http://amicus.collectionscanada.ca/aaweb/aalogine.htm) makes finding Canadian locations very much easier and more accurate The index of places of publication has not been reproduced as most web-browsers allow one to search for words, such as "Montreal" or "Vancouver" and find these directly. The index of 'medical editors' has been converted to a dynamic index and the birth and death dates of editors have been expanded and moved from the text to the index.

A Condensed History of Homeopathy

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Professional Association
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/intro/history.php

Author: 
Dana Ullman
Excerpt: 

The history of homeopathy combines the high drama and intrigue commonly found in the best efforts of the silver screen. Although a movie has not yet been made about homeopathy, it is a film waiting to happen.

Homeopathy became spectacularly popular in the United States and Europe in the 1800s and its strongest advocates included European royalty, American entrepreneurs, literary giants, and religious leaders. But at the time that it was gaining widespread popularity, it became the object of deep-seated animosity and vigilant opposition from establishment medicine. The conflict between homeopathy and orthodox medicine was protracted and bitter. We know who won the first round of this conflict. We await the results of the second round. Hopefully, we will soon discover that a "fight" over healing is inappropriate and that various approaches to healing are all necessary to build a comprehensive and effective health care system.

Public Health in Illinois

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Government
  • Images
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.idph.state.il.us/timeline/history.htm

Author: 
Illinois Department of Public Health
Excerpt: 

1877
The State Board of Health is organized and for the first time public health work is assigned as a permanent function of state government. The board is given responsibility for regulating the practice of medicine and promoting sanitary and hygienic activities to control and prevent disease. Dr. John H. Rauch of Chicago, the highest ranking medical director on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's staff in the Army of Tennessee and sanitary superintendent for the Chicago Board of Health, is elected the first board president. For its first two years of operation, the board receives an appropriation of $5,000.

Annotation: 

This site is a timeline of public health in Illinois, beginning with the organization of the first State Board of Health. The timeline is well designed with links to information grouped by decade. Many of the entries have images and some of these images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Besides the timeline, a visitor can click on a link to a section titled, "...Years Ago in Public Health." In this section, there are more than thirty short articles about new initiatives or developments in the Illinois public health system. As the title of the section would suggest, these articles each represent the state of public health at certain points in the past. For example, one article tells the reader that 37 years ago, Illinois enacted a law requiring all newborn infants to be tested for phenylketonuria. It would be wise for researchers to pay special attention to the dates, because the 37 years is counted from when the website was uploaded in 2002. For further information, visitors can follow links to the Illinois Department of Public Health homepage for health statistics, laws and rules, and health fact sheets.

Archaic Medical Terms

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Middle Ages (5th-15th Century)
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Personal
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm

Author: 
Paul Smith
Excerpt: 

This site covers

1. Archaic medical terminology
2. Terms that can be difficult to understand from a brief entry in a modern dictionary
3. Descriptions of the more common causes of death in the past
4. A few terms that I thought would be easy to find a definition for, but someone sent a query, so maybe they are difficult after all?
5. Some folk and slang terms
6. Symbols, Abbreviations & Qualifications
7. Some terms that have become everyday language, but have a different meaning or slant when used by doctors or had a different meaning in the past
e.g. Abortion, which has come to mean induced termination of pregnancy, but doctors retain the meaning of a natural but premature ending to pregnancy (miscarriage)
8. Some terms in common use, that many non-medical people do not understand precisely what they mean e.g. Heart Attack, prognosis
9. Terms I have been unable to define, in the hope that someone out there does know
10. I could include eponymous conditions, e.g. if you want a potted biography of Alzheimer then contact me
11. Text in square brackets and bold red type e.g. [ty'sis] is a guide to pronunciation

Annotation: 

This site acts as a guide to obscure and outdated medical terminology and information. Historians of early modern medicine may find this site useful, as well as those conducting genealogical research. The main feature of the site is its alphabetical index of archaic medical terms, such as those that might, for example, be found in eighteenth century medical records or diaries. Additionally, the site offers several other sections on topics ranging from epidemics, to poisoning, to symbols and abbreviations, and others. The author of the sight will also field email inquiries if the necessary information is missing.

KIPnotes

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:25.
  • Computers/Information Technology
  • Consumer Technology
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Industrial/Military Technology
  • Links
  • Medicine/Behavioral Science
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Personal
URL: 

http://www.kipnotes.com/

Excerpt: 

For more than a decade we've been collecting books, films and interviews on the histories of industries, companies, executives, products/services, economics, scandals and business fiction. And we've gathered essential books on management's investing, financing and operating decisions. The result: the largest multimedia collection of business histories and management titles available anywhere. Entries are organized by subject, company, year and author.

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