April 17: Pharmacy Fun Fact
Who was the physician that discovered the need for doctors to wash their hands before every examination?
Who was the physician that discovered the need for doctors to wash their hands before every examination?
Answer: Ignaz Semmelweis! Semmelweis figured out that doctors need to wash their hands after performing an autopsy on another doctor who got sick from cutting his finger during surgery. Additionally, he discovered that his students who would come from the dissecting room could be carriers of childbed fever when switching to the maternity ward, as the death rate of healthy mothers was climbing.1,2
REFERENCES
1.Pharmacist Education Through the Years: Some Things You Might Not Have Known. Pharmacy is Right for Me. https://pharmacyforme.org/learn-about-pharmacy/fun-facts/. Published 2019. Accessed April 17, 2020.
2. Ignaz Semmelweis. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ignaz-Semmelweis. Published March 26, 2020. Accessed April 17, 2020.
Stay tuned each week for our Friday Pharmacy Fun Facts! Impress your friends and colleagues with useful facts about the history of pharmacy, inventions created by pharmacists, and more. If you have a fun fact to contribute, email AAntrim@pharmacytimes.com, and it may be included!
