John Hunter revolutionised the training of surgeons. Before Hunter, surgeons were trained on the job by working with another surgeon. Hunter collected a huge range of specimens of animals, plants and human body parts to enable his students to study anatomy more accurately. He opened an Anatomy Theatre and published a range of books.

Hunter made discoveries about:

infections & treating gunshot wounds. He proved that gunshot wounds are not poisonous, so the wound did not need to be made bigger to treat it.
venereal disease (STIs) - he infected himself with gonorrhoea so that he could study it better!
cancer.
the circulation of the blood.
He also possibly robbed graves at night for his brother's anatomy school.

He trained hundreds of other surgeons in his scientific method. Many of these went on to establish teaching hospitals e.g. his student Edward Jenner.

In 1815 the Apothecaries Act ensured that doctors had to pass exams and in 1858 the Medical Act set up the General Medical Council to regulate doctors.

In 1865 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first English woman to qualify as a doctor. By the late 1800s, doctors' training had been transformed by germ theory. Doctors now learned about this and training became more practical.

GCSE Health and the People AQA

Training in the Industrial Revolution