Health and Healing in America

[ Last post for Fall 2010 Semester]

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Reflection Paper (due Wed 12/8) – 5% of final grade

In this paper, please reflect on some or all of the following questions, in about 2-4 pages.

One of the course’s main learning outcomes was for you to “make sense of the complex system of health care and medical services delivery that we have in the United States… by breaking it down into constituent parts and understanding where, when and how each developed.” Do you feel you accomplished this? Why or why not?

In what areas (or topics or time periods) did you most strengthen your knowledge about health and sickness in past times?

What was most new/surprising/difficult for you in this class?

What scholarly tools (practices, techniques, strategies) did you develop this term to approach people, events and ideas of the past?

Which readings, class activities, or assignments contributed the most to your learning this term?

Which readings, class activities, or assignments did not contribute as much to your learning this term?

Below is a list of the topics/units for this course. Are there topics you think should be added to or dropped from the list?

• History of Medicine since ancient times
• Defining Disease over Time
• Social Healers in 18th century America
• Health & Sickness in the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Therapeutics
• Victorian Hospitals
• Social Impact of Epidemics
• Polio
• Health Care Reform
• Civil War Nursing
• Mental Institutions