Why do you think there was such reluctance to accept Dr. Joseph Lister's ideas? Aside from germ theory, what medical advances in the past 150 years do you think have had the biggest impact?

Dr. Joseph Lister came to America in 1876 to share his ideas about germ theory and asepsis, but it was several years before the medical community fully embraced his ideas. Why do you think there was such reluctance? Aside from germ theory, what medical advances in the past 150 years do you think have had the biggest impact?

Many doctors of the time thought they new best. They accepted the way they always did things and did not value new ideas.
The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines have saved many lives and had a great impact on modern medicine.

Most educated people during that time (esp male doctors) completed their studies, became successful, and it was their way of thinking or the highway. Their egos were too big to ever accept forward thinking and new ideas.

Thank goodness for all the advances in medicine, procedures, instruments, etc. It's nice to know that (for big procedures) there are teams of doctors who study individual cases and discuss (as a group) what is best for the patient. Also, it's so critical that patients now have a say in their own care.

People do not like change that includes doctors. Dr. Listers ideas were changes to medical ideas and procedures.

Many successful educated people especially doctors felt they had learned everything they needed to learn and felt superior to others. This was especially true for doctors so they were not open to new ideas like the germ theory proposed by Dr. Lister. Since then there numerous medical advances including many preventive measures to insure good health and doctors are required to participate in continuing education as are nurses plus both attend conferences and there they interact with one another and are open to new ideas.

People are often resistant to change. People in power even more so; to admit they are not the best educated, or have been doing things incorrectly, does not go well with ego. It is often those at the top level in a profession who feel most threatened by new ideas.

American doctors were hesitant to accept concepts and practices from doctors outside of the United States because in their eyes we were the most progressive and had the best medicine and procedures available to fight illness. Thankfully as medical practices now can be reviewed by any doctor around the world and trained in new procedures that thinking has somewhat diminished thanks to the internet.

Some of the medical advances we have to be thankful for are insulin, penicillin, cancer fighting drugs, and corticosteroids for asthma and breathing difficulties.

I encourage you to read the other book written by this author on the first leprosy hospital in the contiguous United States. This Leper Colony was in Louisiana and helped many people live with leprosy after a very simple solution was found that stopped the disease. The book is entitled: "The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel".

I think about my experience in a classroom. When I began teaching, I worked with many older educators, who had been teaching for 30 years. What they did in the classroom had always worked for them. Many weren’t interested in new strategies or changing what they believed was successful. Their experience told them what worked best. I think maybe some of the same thing was going on here. Dr. Pingry seemed very arrogant-as if he had something to prove to the interns. He acted as if he knew everything his patients needed and wasn’t willing to listen to new ideas or try more current treatments based on newer and more relevant research.

I think at the time of Dr. Lister's ideas, most could not imagine the concept of invisible germs harming their patients. The collaboration of ideas and research worldwide throughout the medical communities I believe to be the reason behind modern medicine's success rates.

Many of the medical breakthroughs and upgrades in doctor training first occurred in Europe. The medical community in the US seemed to be skeptical and continue with outmoded practices even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of new treatments and ways of viewing disease. Some of this “nobody can tell us anything” attitude exists to this day. Some US treatment protocols are very different from those used in other countries.

I agree, change can be really hard and threatening for people. I see that even in myself sometimes. Especially, like acstrine said, when you've been doing something for a long time and it seemed successful. But where would be without advances like Germ Theory? Or, as others said, antibiotics, vaccines, cancer therapies--and I'll add birth control and other forms of effective contraception.