Women working in the area of surgery at the Hospital of the Five Wounds of Seville during the XVIth to XVIIIth century

Abstract

The objective of this work is to know the area of surgery of the Hospital of the Five Wounds and the group of people who worked there, mainly, the surgical nurses from 1500 to 1808. Regarding the methodology, the first phase of the study included an archival review of primary sources of diverse archives and bibliographic of secondary sources to know the state of the question. Then, I proceeded to interpret and analyze the data. The main results indicate that this area only received wounded women, who were admitted to the surgery room, called San Juan, where they received the care of the surgeon mother and her maids who followed the prescriptions given by the surgeon. The instruments handled in this area were bandages, tweezers, syringes, scissors, knives, saws, irons to cauterize and even a gynecological instrument called the speculum matricis. The results indicate that this hospital could be a reflection of the development of the surgery and its personnel in the Castilian hospitals of the Modern Age. Area that would be quite structured at the end of the 16th century, in which the binomial surgeon and surgery nurse stand out and the crucial role that the latter plays in the care of the injured in a Spanish hospital.

Keywords

• Cirugía
• Enfermeras de cirugía
• Cirujano
• Hospital
• Sevilla
• Edad Moderna