Summary |
The Industrial Revolution created the need for modern healthcare. It urbanized the population, narrowed its skills, and put people to work away from home. This had several affects. Denser populations concentrated healthcare needs. Specialization increased the dependence on others for services; working away from home reduced the ability of the family to provide home care; and industrial accidents and illnesses increased the demand for healthcare services. All in all, the rugged individualist of the farm was becoming a dependent element of a more complicated social tapestry.
If the Industrial Revolution created the need for modern healthcare, developments in modern medicine in the late 19th century created the tools to meet this need. During the first half of the century, doctors were viewed with suspicion and disdain. There were few hospitals, and these had been started as the healthcare component of the poorhouse – the 19th century version of the homeless shelter – and the people they treated were indigent, old, and disenfranchised.
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