Man and woman 

Sklifosovsky Nikolai Vasilievich. Nikolai Sklifosovsky: what was the famous doctor like?

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    • Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky is an outstanding Russian doctor and a person with tragic fate, was an ardent follower of the ideas of N. I. Pirogov and a representative of the Russian traditions of healing (1836-1904)

    Sklifosovsky NIKOLAY VASILIEVICH

    PUBLICATIONS IN MEDICAL JOURNALS ABOUT N.V. SKLIFOSOVSKY

    Born on April 6 (old style - March 25) outstanding surgeon and scientist, professor Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky. He saved thousands of lives while working as a military field surgeon, introduced the principles of antisepsis and asepsis, revolutionary for that time, for the first time performed operations that were considered impossible before him, but the genius of surgery failed to help his closest people... An outstanding scientist and surgeon Childhood and The future scientist's youth was spent in poverty and deprivation. He was born in 1836 in the Kherson province. Nikolai was the 9th child in the family, and after him three more were born. His father was a minor official and could not support such big family. Therefore, parents were forced to send several children, including Nikolai, to the Odessa orphanage.

    Despite difficult living conditions and lack of attention and care from loved ones, Nikolai graduated from high school with silver medal and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University “on government support.” He became one of the best students, despite the fact that during the first operation he saw, Sklifosovsky lost consciousness. Sklifosovsky performed a huge number of operations and saved thousands of lives. After graduation, Sklifosovsky returned to Odessa and got a job in one of the hospitals as a resident in the surgical department. At the age of 27, he already defended his doctoral dissertation.

    Sklifosovsky became a participant in several military campaigns - he worked in field hospitals of the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars, and visited the fronts of the Balkan and Russian-Turkish wars. They had to operate around the clock, amid the roar of cannon fire. The surgeon’s wife, who followed him to the front, recalled: “After three or four operations in a row, often with high temperature in the operating room, having inhaled carbolic acid, ether, and iodoform for several hours, he would come home with a terrible headache, which he got rid of by drinking a small cup of very strong coffee.” Sklifosovsky performed a huge number of operations and saved thousands of lives.

    Sklifosovsky's innovations were invaluable: he saved thousands of lives by introducing disinfection of surgical instruments, surgical fields and medical clothing, and developed the “Sklifosovsky castle”, which made it possible to connect crushed bones. Thanks to his technique, cases of postoperative infections and complications were almost completely eliminated, and the mortality rate decreased significantly. The operations performed by Sklifosovsky for the first time became classics in world surgery.

    At the same time, the scientist’s innovative developments were initially subject to doubts and criticism from his colleagues. Thus, Professor I. Korzhenevsky ironically spoke at a lecture about a new method of disinfection: “Isn’t it funny that such big man, like Sklifosovsky, is afraid of such small creatures as bacteria, which he doesn’t even see!”

    However, all these life’s hardships and professional difficulties will seem only minor troubles in comparison with the troubles that Sklifosovsky had to endure in his personal life. At the age of 24, his wife Lisa died of typhus, leaving three children. After some time, the surgeon married for the second time. His chosen one was the governess Sophia, who understood him perfectly, supported him in everything and accompanied him everywhere, took care of raising children and housekeeping. She gave her husband four more children.

    The fate of Sklifosovsky's wife and children was tragic. Not a single child lived long and happy life: son Boris died in infancy, and his brother Konstantin died at the age of 16 from kidney tuberculosis. The eldest son, Vladimir, while studying at the institute, became interested in politics and became a member of a terrorist organization, which instructed him to kill the governor of Poltava, who was a friend of their family and often visited their house. Realizing that he could not commit the murder of a long-time acquaintance and fearing the condemnation of his “comrades,” Vladimir committed suicide. The death of his third son finally crippled Sklifosovsky. He left medicine, went to his Yakovtsy estate in the Poltava province and took up gardening. He outlived his son by only 4 years: in 1904, after suffering a stroke, the great surgeon died at the age of 68. The surgeon's grave in Yakovtsi However, troubles continued to haunt his family. Son Nikolai died during the Russo-Japanese War, son Alexander disappeared during the Civil War.

    In 1918, the Bolsheviks, despite Lenin’s personal order that repressions would not apply to Sklifosovsky’s family (after all, he received the rank of general for his medical work on the battlefield), executed the paralyzed surgeon’s widow and his daughter Tamara. They hacked Sophia to death with shovels, and hanged Tamara in the courtyard of the house. And in 1923 soviet government named after Sklifosovsky the Moscow Institute of Emergency Medicine. Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky.

    There is not a person in Russia who has not heard this name. This is not surprising - Nikolai Vasilyevich made a real revolution in world medicine.

    Two fainting spells

    At the first operation he saw, student Sklifosovsky fainted at the sight of blood. But the student endured the second such lesson calmly, and by the end of his studies he showed such outstanding results that he was one of those few students who were asked to take exams for the degree of Doctor of Science.
    The doctor's second known fainting occurred for the opposite reason. Usually, after classes in the operating room and wards, Sklifosovsky went to study topographic anatomy and operative surgery. The sectional equipment was very poor, and there was no ventilation at all. But the student eagerly studied anatomy and sometimes sat until he was completely exhausted. One day he was found lying near a corpse in a state of deep fainting.

    Modesty

    One of the most prominent European doctors of his time was, nevertheless, modest. It is known that he refused the position of chief physician in Odessa, which he was offered almost immediately after graduating from the academy. Sklifosovsky wanted permanent practice as a surgeon and worked as a resident in the surgical department of a city hospital.

    After 25 years, he will refuse to celebrate the anniversary of his medical activity - no celebrations, no honors. True, the entire surgical world and hundreds of saved patients will still bombard him with letters and telegrams, of which there will be about four hundred.

    Doctor of all wars of the 19th century

    Sklifosovsky was an active surgeon in almost all European wars XIX century. In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the surgeon gains invaluable experience. Afterwards he participates in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, then in the Slavic-Turkish war in 1876, and again in the Russian-Turkish war in 1877, where the professor volunteers.
    Sklifosovsky's participation in these wars made him the founder of modern military field surgery. Thanks to his work, antiseptics began to be used in Russia, instruments were disinfected, and millions of patients avoided blood poisoning and other postoperative complications.
    Sklifosovsky was one of the first to use hot disinfection of instruments. He invented a surgical connection of joints, the so-called “Russian castle”, or “Sklifosovsky castle”.

    Envy of colleagues

    Stories of fast take-offs are usually silent about enemies, about those who are jealous and put spokes in the wheels. But we know about Sklifosovsky’s path not only that it was direct and swift, but also about how difficult it was for the young doctor at times. In 1871, he was called to the department of surgical pathology at the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg. The doctor is still young, but already in 1878 he was entrusted with the management of the surgical clinic of Baronet Villiers. Many members of the Academy are against accepting Sklifosovsky into it. After all, he is young, and he has some innovative ideas... This is what Dr. Vladimir Kovanov writes in his book about Sklifosovsky: “His surgeon-clinicians, Dr. E.I., received him poorly. Bogdanovsky, I.O. Korzhenevsky, who saw their own rival in the young, growing doctor. Supporters of old traditions in spite of common sense, going against the new, progressive trend in surgery, openly opposed the introduction of an anti-putrefactive method of healing wounds.”
    Another example is Professor Ippolit Korzhenevsky, a surgeon of the French school, who ironically spoke at a lecture about the Lister method of disinfection: “Isn’t it funny that such a large man as Sklifosovsky is afraid of such small creatures as bacteria, which he does not even see!”

    Stalking death

    Sklifosovsky saved thousands of lives, and yet death pursued him: not in the operating room, but at home. The history of Sklifosovsky's family is tragic: his young wife died at 24, leaving him with three small children. From his second marriage, Sklifosovsky had four more children, but of these seven, three died. One son, Boris, died in infancy, the other, Konstantin, died at the age of 17 due to kidney tuberculosis. And then the eldest - Vladimir - passes away, but not because of illness, but because of politics. As a student, Vladimir joined a secret terrorist organization and received an assignment from it to kill the governor of Poltava. The young man could not dare to do this, because this governor was a close friend of their family. But he didn’t dare return “empty-handed.” As a result, Vladimir chose the third path: he died by committing suicide. This event greatly influenced his father, who left his job and took up gardening on his Poltava estate, where he soon died. But even after his death, the history of his family did not “straighten out.” Another of his sons, Nikolai, was soon killed in Russian-Japanese war. The other, Alexander, disappeared during the Civil War.

    Murder of wife and daughter

    When the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, Sklifosovsky’s widow and children received a paper from Lenin, which stated that the family of the famous doctor could not be “touched”. But for some reason this paper did not save them, and the already paralyzed Sofia Sklifosovskaya and daughter Tamara were brutally killed in 1918 for being “relatives of the general.” The Bolsheviks did not understand that the rank of general was awarded to Sklifosovsky for his participation in wars as a doctor who treated all the wounded, regardless of position.
    Of all the seven children of the great surgeon, only eldest daughter Olga. Immediately after the revolution, she emigrated from Russia.

    Women doctors

    A woman doctor is now a common phenomenon, but in the 19th century it was exceptional. At that time, none of the reputable doctors even raised the question of whether a woman could be a professional doctor, much less a surgeon. But Sklifosovsky looked at it differently. During Russian-Turkish war In addition to helping the wounded, he also led a group of female doctors who chose the surgical specialty. This was a real breakthrough for that time.
    “We send gratitude for the fact,” writes a female doctor, “that you insisted on an equal educational qualification for us with male doctors and supported us with your high authority in the most difficult moment of our first appearance in the practical field, giving us independent medical activity,” this was the telegram the doctor received on the 25th anniversary of his professional activity.

    Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky (1836 - 1904) - a famous Russian doctor who became the director of the Imperial Clinical Institute Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna in St. Petersburg. He became known as a talented surgeon and researcher. His works on military field surgery, as well as on operations on abdominal cavity became widely known not only in Russia, but also abroad. It was Nikolai Vasilyevich who proposed the technique of several operations, which to this day bear his name. He became one of the first doctors who began to introduce the principle of antisepsis and asepsis into medical practice.

    Childhood of Nikolai Vasilyevich.

    The future outstanding Russian surgeon was born in the Kherson province in the Tiraspol district on a farm near the city of Dubossary. This happened on April 6, 1836. Vasily Pavlovich Sklifosovsky, the father of the newborn, was a poor nobleman who worked as an employee in a quarantine office. In total he had 12 children, and little Nikolenka was the ninth child. My father was unable to feed so many hungry mouths, so very soon Kolya was sent to Odessa to an orphanage. It was here that he experienced very early age all the bitterness of loneliness and homelessness. In order to somehow escape from the gray reality surrounding him, young Nikolai began to frantically indulge in his studies. He was especially good at foreign languages, literature, history, and natural Sciences. In his studies, he found that salvation from a difficult life, which helped him overcome all obstacles and reach heights in his life.

    Gymnasium and studies at Moscow University.

    Having matured a little, Kolya went to the Odessa gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal, an excellent certificate and a reputation as one of the best students in the school. The brilliant completion of his studies at the gymnasium allowed young Nikolai Vasilyevich to receive benefits for admission to Moscow University. Upon entering the university, he passed all exams with excellent grades.

    The future doctor Sklifosovsky became a student of the then famous surgeon F.I. Inozemtseva. It was this famous doctor who was considered an eternal competitor of Pirogov, from whom he even took away the chair at Moscow University. Despite training in prestigious university, Nikolai remained in very difficult financial situation. Throughout his studies, he lived on a modest stipend, which, moreover, was often given to him with a delay.

    In 1859, Nikolai Vasilyevich graduated with honors from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University. However, the joy of graduation was overshadowed by the fact that the Odessa order again delayed the payment of his scholarship, as a result of which the newly minted doctor had to ask for help from the university administration in order to get to his future place of work.

    The beginning of a medical career.

    Arriving in Odessa, Sklifosovsky got a job as a resident in the surgical department of the hospital. It is indicative that after some time he was offered the position of chief physician, but he refused it, being convinced that practical experience was more important for his future career than warm place, which does not require special work.

    Here a terrible grief came to him - when he was 24 years old, his young wife Lisa, who left him three children, died. Later he married for the second time to the governess Sofya Alexandrovna. She bore him four more children and constantly accompanied her husband on all his trips, becoming a real support for him, which helped him not to lose heart even in the most difficult moments.

    While still very young, at the age of 27, Nikolai Vasilyevich defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “On a blood circulatory tumor.” The work of the still very young doctor of sciences was unique in that not many people had studied this gynecological disease before him.

    Sklifosovsky's first trip abroad.

    After defending his dissertation, Sklifosovsky’s career took off sharply. He began to publish in famous scientific journals, his works were translated into other languages, and in 1866 Nikolai Vasilyevich went on a two-year trip to Europe, during which he studied the experience of leading foreign doctors and attended lectures by leading doctors in the world.

    Founder of modern military medicine.

    During this trip, the Russian surgeon even had to take part in real war- during the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian conflict, he helped wounded soldiers and was awarded the Iron Cross, the highest German military award, for his invaluable courage. This experience was very useful for him - during his life, Sklifosovsky managed to visit the fronts of almost all significant warriors of the 19th century, saved many wounded, regardless of what nationality they were, and on which side of the barricades he fought.

    Nikolai Vasilyevich became the founder of all modern military field medicine. It was thanks to him that mandatory disinfection of instruments was introduced into practice in Russia. It was he who spent a lot of time and effort to ensure that antiseptics began to be used in Russian hospitals, and his great merit is that tens of thousands of wounded on the battlefields of the 19th century survived and did not die from blood poisoning and sepsis.

    In 1870, an already established doctor headed the department of surgery at Kiev University. But he could not sit in one place for long - in the same year the Franco-Prussian War began, to the fronts of which he went to help wounded soldiers. Upon returning from Europe, Sklifosovsky took the place of head of the department of surgical pathology at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. Here he continued his scientific activity and wrote a number of works on surgery.

    Teaching activities and scientific work.

    In 1878, Nikolai Vasilyevich moved to the department of the academic surgical clinic, in 1880 - to the department of the Moscow University clinic. Until 1893 he was dean Faculty of Medicine Moscow University. It was during this period of his life that he wrote most of his scientific works, and also during his stay in Moscow, his teaching activity flourished.

    From 1893 to 1900, Sklifosovsky worked in St. Petersburg, where he trained doctors in practical surgery. Soon he felt a deterioration in his health, retired from business and left for the Poltava province, where he died on December 13, 1904.

    Nikolai Vasilyevich’s contribution to domestic medicine is simply enormous, his scientific works significantly advanced surgery and gynecology. It was he who laid the foundations of all modern Russian surgery and it was to him that tens of thousands of people around the world owe their lives.

    Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky.

    The Research Institute of Emergency Medicine is named after Nikolai Vasilievich. Nowadays, the research institute is the largest scientific and practical center for emergency medicine in Russia, all divisions of which provide round-the-clock and free help to all patients.

    The institute employs more than 800 doctors and researchers (among them 2 academicians, 2 corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 37 professors, 78 doctors and 167 candidates of medical sciences). The research institute has 918 inpatient beds, 90 of which are intensive care beds. And during the year, more than 20 thousand different surgical operations are performed at the research institute.

    Sklifosovsky Nikolai Vasilyevich - (March 25 (April 6) 1836 - November 30 (December 13) 1904) - Emeritus Professor, Director of the Imperial Clinical Institute of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna in St. Petersburg, author of works on military field surgery of the abdominal cavity.

    He was born near the city of Dubossary, and graduated from high school in Odessa. Sklifosovsky decided to become a doctor in his childhood, so after graduating from high school he went to Moscow and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University. There his medical specialty was determined - surgery.

    The collection of Russian land is over... and the period of childhood, imitation and cultural borrowing has passed. We have paid the fatal tribute of historical apprenticeship and entered the rut of independent life. We have our own literature, we have science and art, and we have become active and independent in all fields of culture, and now, with the exception of some monuments from the era historical period our history, we have almost no evidence of what we experienced... The people who had their own Pirogov have the right to be proud, since they are associated with this name whole period medical science...

    Sklifosovsky Nikolay Vasilievich

    Returning to his homeland after graduating from university, Sklifosovsky worked for several years as a zemstvo doctor, and then entered the Odessa City Hospital, where he soon became head of the surgical department. He spent all his free time improving his surgical skills, and after three years he defended his doctoral dissertation. But even then he believed that he did not yet have sufficient knowledge and experience.

    In 1866, Sklifosovsky went on a business trip abroad. For two years, during which he managed to work in England, France and Germany, Nikolai Vasilyevich became acquainted with various surgical schools and studied the features of the organization medical care V different countries. It was at this time that he drew attention to the work of the famous surgeon Lister, who first substantiated the need to sterilize surgical instruments and the surgical field. Now it’s hard to imagine that back in the middle of the last century, most surgeons considered this completely unnecessary and even harmful!

    Reports made by Sklifosovsky at several medical congresses attracted the attention of specialists to him. He was one of the first to develop a practical method of surgical disinfection. When the Austro-Prussian War began, Sklifosovsky received permission from the Austrian government and went to the front. After the conclusion of peace, he returned to Odessa, but, as it turned out, not for long, because the Franco-Prussian War began and he again had to go to the front. True, after a few months he returned to Russia again, but this time to St. Petersburg, since he was invited to the Medical-Surgical Academy - the only educational institution in Russia, where they trained military doctors.

    Sklifosovsky worked in St. Petersburg for five years, after which he again went to the Balkans, and then to the Russian-Turkish war. There he worked together with the wonderful surgeon N.I. Pirogov, who gave a brilliant review of the professional training of his colleague. As a Red Cross consultant, Sklifosovsky had to combine the work of a surgeon with multilateral organizational activities. During heavy fighting near Plevna and at the foot of Shipka, he sometimes did not interrupt his work for several days in order to provide assistance to everyone who needed it. It was later calculated that more than ten thousand wounded passed directly through his hands.

    After returning to Russia, Sklifosovsky becomes a professor at Moscow University and head of a surgical clinic. This was a bold step, since at that time the clinic was in a completely neglected state. But Sklifosovsky energetically set to work, and soon the clinic became one of the best medical institutions in Europe. Sklifosovsky was one of the first not only in Russia, but also in Europe to introduce hot processing instruments and medical linen and achieved almost complete absence postoperative complications and infections. Many serious illnesses, which most doctors considered incurable, were defeated only thanks to the efforts of Sklifosovsky.

    Around medical clinic an entire town was soon built on Devichye Pole, again with the direct participation of Sklifosovsky. To design it, the scientist created a public committee, which brought together leading experts of his time. Sklifosovsky developed a program of hygienic measures together with F. Erisman, who laid the foundations of medical hygiene. And in order to receive the necessary funds, he had to go to St. Petersburg several times to see the Minister of Health.

    However, Sklifosovsky did not calm down even after he set up his clinic. He undertook to promote the latest scientific achievements among practicing doctors and for these purposes created the Society of Russian Doctors. On his initiative, periodic congresses of surgeons began to be held in Russia for the first time. But the XII International Congress of Surgeons organized by Sklifosovsky had the greatest resonance. It took place in Moscow in 1897. It was attended by prominent scientists from many countries of the world, including the outstanding German physiologist Rudolf Virchow. Having visited Sklifosovsky’s clinic, he said in an interview: “You are at the head of an institution that is the envy of other European nations!”

    Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky - an outstanding Russian surgeon. Is one of famous doctors Russia. Many consider him to be the first to contribute to Russian medicine after N.I. Pirogov. Sklifosovsky's main achievements are research in the field of military surgery.

    Biography of Sklifosovsky

    Nikolai Vasilyevich was born on April 6, 1836 in the Kherson province. His father was a poor clerk who worked in a quarantine office. When his father had financial problems, Sklifosovsky and other children ended up in an orphanage. At the orphanage, he completely immersed himself in education. Foreign languages, literature, history and natural sciences were easy for Nikolai Vasilyevich.

    Growing up, future surgeon entered the Odessa gymnasium. Being one of the best students, he graduated from this educational institution in 1854 with a silver medal. High achievements in the gymnasium allowed Sklifosovsky to receive benefits for admission to Moscow University. He passes the entrance exams with flying colors and enters the medical faculty.

    In 1859 Nikolai Vasilievich graduates from Moscow University and leaves for Odessa. He is there gets a job as a resident in the surgical department of a hospital. While assisting the doctor on his first operation, Nikolai Vasilyevich fainted. But the surgeon's diligence helped him achieve his goals. In just a few years, he became one of the most respected doctors. After some time, Sklifosovsky was offered the position of chief physician, but he refused, preferring practice rather than career growth.

    In 1863, a surgeon defended his doctoral dissertation"About the bloody circulatory tumor." The uniqueness of his research was that before him there were practically no works studying this disease.

    In 1866 Nikolai Vasilievich went abroad for 2 years. There he worked in Germany at the pathological institute of Professor Virokhov, at the surgical clinic of Professor Langenbeck, and in the Prussian army at dressing stations. Later the surgeon visited France, England and Scotland.

    Returning to his homeland with extensive experience as a surgeon, Sklifosovsky wrote a series of works that influenced his invitation to the Imperial Kiev University in 1870. There he continued his research activities and wrote the works:

    1. Resection of both jaws
    2. Surgical treatment of knee joint immobility
    3. Cutting out the goiter
    4. Papillary neoplasm of the ovary. Excision of it.

    Exactly there Sklifosovsky began introducing antiseptics. He strived to keep the wards clean and the operating rooms sterile.

    Particularly noteworthy is Sklifosovsky’s participation in military campaigns. He was on the fronts of the Austro-Prussian War (1866-1868), the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), the Balkan War (1876), and the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878). There Nikolai Vasilyevich gained practical experience in the field of military field surgery and collected information about the shortcomings of medical care on the battlefield.

    In 1878, the surgeon got a job at the department of an academic surgical clinic, and 2 years later - at the department of a Moscow University clinic. It was there that Sklifosovsky introduced the need to sterilize instruments by boiling. Patients were now required to take a bath and put on clean clothes upon admission to the hospital. And also, it was Nikolai Vasilyevich who introduced the rule of keeping a patient’s medical history. Having worked as dean of the medical faculty of Moscow University until 1893, Sklifosovsky moved to St. Petersburg, where until 1900 he trained doctors in practical surgery at the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies. After this, his health began to deteriorate, and he left for the Poltava province to his estate Yakovtsy. Sklifosovsky died in 1904.

    Contribution to medicine

    Nikolai Vasilievich was one of the outstanding military field surgeons. As mentioned above, he participated in several wars, which allowed him to gain enormous experience in the field of military field surgery. Of particular interest are his observation of gunshot wounds of the chest and abdominal cavity. They found that not all chest injuries are life-threatening. Through bullet wounds with a pinpoint entry hole without significant bleeding into the pleural cavity may not be complicated by infection.

    Sklifosovsky assessed the effect of blood clots on the wound. According to his conclusion, blood clots contribute to hermetically sealing the wound, which has a beneficial effect on the course of the wound process in penetrating wounds. This was the first step to begin surgically closing the open chest wound.

    Nikolai Vasilyevich paid special attention to the hygienic regime of military hospitals. The increased demands of the surgeon made it possible to reduce the incidence of dysentery, typhus and other infections in the institutions under his jurisdiction.

    After the Russian-Turkish war they were a number of changes have been proposed in the organization of medical services. Among them was a proposal on the creation of mobile sanitary teams appearing where needed. This idea was realized only during the Great Patriotic War Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko.

    The Sklifosovskys also proposed their own method of sorting the wounded.. Instead of dividing into seriously and lightly wounded, they were asked to create 4 groups:

    1. Left in the hospital
    2. To be plastered
    3. Receiving a simple dressing
    4. Casualted, able to return to duty in 1-2 days

    These and other initiatives of Sklifosovsky significantly influenced the development of Russian surgery and gynecology. In 1923, the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine in Moscow was named in honor of Nikolai Vasilyevich.