09/02/2022
Surgery with dirty surgical instruments and without anaesthesia?
Last week on a trip to London, I managed to squeeze in a visit to The The Old Operating Theatre Museum. Hidden in the attic of the church of the old St Thomas' Hospital, you can find Europe's oldest surviving operating theatre.
A fascinating and eerie place that offers a glimpse into what healthcare was like in the 18th and 19th century.
Before the development of the antiseptic system in the late 19th century, surgical instruments were rarely even washed before a surgical procedure and surgeons tended to wash their hands after a procedure rather than before!
It is therefore not surprising that the postoperative mortality rate ranged between 40 - 60% in those days.
And just imagine the sheer pain those patients must have endured, most of which went into shock, before effective pain management...
Sterilisation and Anaesthesia were significant breakthroughs in the 19th century. They dramatically reduced the mortality rate and changed surgery forever. (Nowadays, the mortality rate in the UK is only 0.71% for elective cases).
Looking at those modest devices in the pictures, I'm proud of being part of such a forward-thinking industry that collaboratively works hard every single day to supply hospitals with the latest tools, so they can provide the best possible care for their patients.
And with technology predicted to make a bigger jump over the next 10 years than it has advanced over the last 100, it can be exciting yet overwhelming to try and picture our operating theatres of the future.
