Sklifosovsky scientist surgeon. Sklifosovsky Nikolay Vasilievich

An outstanding surgeon.

Born on March 25, 1836 (Pushkin was still alive) on a farm near the town of Duborossy, Kherson province (now the territory of Moldova).

After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University, he worked as a resident and then as head of the surgical department of the Odessa City Hospital. In 1863 he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “On the bloody circumuterine tumor.”

In 1866, Sklifosovsky was sent abroad for two years.

In Germany, France and England, he saw everything that world medical science could show a young surgeon. It was in those years that wound infection bacteria were discovered, Lister’s “anti-putrefactive” method (antiseptic), general anesthesia with ether and chloroform came into practice, and the approach to surgery itself fundamentally changed. Before the use of anesthesia, all, even the most complex operations, lasted no longer than two to three minutes in order to avoid the fatal consequences of painful shock. Among the surgeons, real virtuosos have developed, capable of performing any operation literally in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the lack of sterility during operations often led to disastrous results. Sklifosovsky is credited with introducing antiseptics into Russian surgical practice, that is, active disinfection using chemicals.

However, the antiseptic method did not last long.

Fifteen years later it gave way to a more progressive one - aseptic, “putrefactive”. It became clear that the antiseptic solutions previously used to clean wounds - carbolic acid and sublimate - acted not only on bacteria, but also directly on the living tissues of the body. Studies have shown that acid solutions have little effect on pathogenic forms of microbes and have virtually no effect on their spores. But the same acids had a detrimental effect on living tissues.

It was much more effective to solve these problems by installing some artificial barriers to prevent bacteria from entering the wound.

For example, boiling or exposure to steam under high pressure practically destroyed not only microbes, but also all types of their spores.

When this fact was finally established, everything that was used during operations began to be exposed to high temperatures: bandages, gowns, gloves, instruments, even a special antiseptic method was developed for treating hands.

In 1866, Sklifosovsky (with the consent of the Russian government) took part as a military doctor in the Austro-Prussian War. He worked at dressing stations and in a military hospital until the end of the campaign. Sklifosovsky shared his experience gained in the war with his colleagues in a detailed article “Note on observations during the last German war of 1866,” published in the Medical Bulletin.

While developing new approaches to performing surgical operations, Sklifosovsky did not forget about anatomy. He regularly visited the anatomical theater, “...to study anatomically some area or determine a more correct and expedient path into the depths of the body.” Sklifosovsky’s surgical technique was based on two famous principles: to dissect only what you can see or touch clearly, and to make any section only on the basis of a solid knowledge of anatomy.

Sklifosovsky was very strict about operations performed at home.

Prominent dignitaries of the 19th century, wealthy merchants and industrialists, and generally wealthy people with acute diseases requiring surgical intervention, as a rule, invited surgeons to their homes, categorically refusing treatment in poorly equipped city hospitals. The processing of the rooms in which the operation was to be performed was carried out extremely carefully and using a special technique.

“...It is known,” wrote Professor V.V. Kovanov in a book dedicated to Sklifosovsky, “that for a long time Nikolai Vasilyevich worked as a resident, then head of the surgical department of the Odessa City Hospital. Over the years, he became a major surgeon with extensive scientific and practical training, deeply aware of the importance of a broad natural science education. Well-educated, fluent in several languages, with great endurance and self-control, being a sensitive and responsive doctor, he fully prepared himself for teaching.

Thanks to the increased scientific authority and the successes achieved in surgery, at the beginning of 1870 N.V. Sklifosovsky, on the recommendation of N.I. Pirogov, was invited to take the chair of surgery at Kiev University. When this became known in Odessa, the City Duma at an emergency meeting passed a resolution: “For the merits of N.V. Sklifosovsky and the benefit he brings to the city and the hospital, offer him a professor’s salary in order to keep him in Odessa.”

This episode serves as proof of recognition of the merits of the young scientist, who managed to gain great authority among the urban population. N.V. Sklifosovsky, however, did not stay in Odessa, since he was not satisfied with practical medicine alone: Nikolai Vasilyevich was attracted to teaching, and he was especially interested in issues of military field surgery.”

The Franco-Prussian War began and Sklifosovsky again asked to go to the front.

In 1871, Sklifosovsky was invited to the department of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. At the academy, he began teaching surgical pathology, while simultaneously heading the clinical department of a military hospital.

“...At the Academy,” wrote Professor V.V. Kovanov, “N.V. Sklifosovsky’s teaching talent developed in full splendor, and he soon became one of the most popular professors. But he did not achieve this immediately. It was not so easy to gain recognition among the professors of the academy and win over the students. It was especially difficult at first for a young professor who did not have sufficient teaching experience, who joined the academy’s teaching staff against the wishes of many of its members. He was received poorly by surgeon-clinicians Professors E.I. Bogdanovsky and I.O. Korzhenevsky, who saw their competitor in the young, growing surgeon. Supporters of old traditions, contrary to common sense, going against the new, progressive trend in surgery, openly opposed the introduction of an antiputrefactive method of treating wounds, which, as we know, N.V. Sklifosovsky was one of the first to successfully use. Speaking against N.V. Sklifosovsky, who was the initiator of the new method in Russia, they sometimes reached the point of indecent attacks. Thus, A. S. Tauber, who was a student at that time and later a professor, in his notes published under the pseudonym A. Stal, cites a case when Professor Korzhenevsky, a surgeon of the French school who was in charge of an academic surgical clinic, ironically spoke at a lecture to fourth-year students. regarding the Lister method: “Isn’t it funny that such a big man like Sklifosovsky is afraid of such small creatures as bacteria, which he does not see!.”

Sklifosovsky's military experience was again in demand during the Balkan (1876) and Russian-Turkish (1877–1878) campaigns.

In Montenegro, Sklifosovsky advised the work of the Red Cross.

He outlined his impressions in a large work published in the Military Medical Journal entitled “From observations during the Slavic War of 1876.”

In this work, Sklifosovsky thoroughly analyzed the extremely pressing problems of organizing the transportation of the wounded, treating gunshot injuries and private assistance in war. Even during the Franco-Prussian War, he came to the conclusion that treatment of penetrating chest wounds should be carried out on the spot, without sending the wounded to the rear. “In strictly expectant management, the most essential requirement should be that these casualties should not be transported.”

In the Russian-Turkish War, Sklifosovsky was in the forefront of the Danube Army. He not only opened hospitals. He himself more than once provided practical assistance to soldiers under enemy bullets. It was a school that could not be overestimated.

"N. V. Sklifosovsky, wrote Professor V.V. Kovanov, infected everyone around him with unparalleled hard work, instilled in them vigor and fortitude, forced them to meekly endure all the hardships and hardships of front-line life. Eyewitnesses tell how this apparently elegant and well-groomed civilian general in a spotlessly clean uniform was able to remain for several days without food and without sleep, constantly being at the operating table in the dressing room or in the triage departments of the main hospital. The care of doctors and nurses for him was touching; during work they brought him a sip of wine or a piece of bread to maintain his strength. His wife, Sofya Alexandrovna, provided him with great assistance in his work, caring for the wounded. She was with him throughout the entire company, enduring all the hardships of camp life...”

Developing the views of the great Russian surgeon N.I. Pirogov, Sklifosovsky developed the principle of bringing medical care closer to the battlefield, the principle of “saving treatment” of gunshot wounds, and introduced into widespread use the use of plaster casts as a means of immobilization for wounds of the extremities.

In 1880, Sklifosovsky was elected head of the faculty surgical clinic of the medical faculty of Moscow University.

He managed this clinic for fourteen years.

Ahead of his time, Sklifosovsky was the first in Russia to begin performing gastric excision surgery, blind suture of the bladder, goiter surgery, excision of tongue cancer with preliminary ligation of the lingual artery, removal of the larynx, and urinary hernia surgery. He was not afraid to carry out the most complex plastic surgeries and was constantly looking for new methods. For example, surgery for false joints entered world literature under the name “Sklifosovsky castle.” To keep the ends of the femur in direct contact at the fracture site, a cut was made in the middle of both ends of the bone, then at the end of the first cut a second cut was made in a direction transverse to it. Both halves sawn at the ends were removed so that the resulting surfaces came into contact with each other, then they were secured with metal seams. Sklifosovsky was the first to introduce medical histories into hospital life, which allowed doctors to process the necessary data based on a huge amount of factual material.

From 1893 to 1900, Sklifosovsky headed the St. Petersburg Clinical Institute for Advanced Medical Studies. During these seven years, he built new buildings, electrified them, and achieved significant additional funding for the institute. It is no coincidence that on the day of the 25th anniversary of Sklifosovsky’s professorial activity, among the hundreds of telegrams he received, there was this one: “You are at the head of an institution that is envied by other peoples of Europe.” The telegram was signed by the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lausanne, Professor Larguier de Vincels.

At the International Congress of Surgeons in 1897, the famous Rudolf Virchow, on behalf of the scientists gathered in Moscow, addressed Sklifosovsky, elected President of the Congress, with the following words:

“...We met here a President whose authority is recognized by representatives of all branches of medical science, a man who, with full knowledge of all the requirements of medical practice, also combines the quality of a doctor of the soul, has a spirit of brotherhood and a feeling of love for all humanity.”

Sklifosovsky edited the first special scientific surgical journals in Moscow, “Surgical Chronicle” and “Chronicle of Russian Surgeons.” He was one of the founding members of the Society of Russian Doctors, the Moscow Surgical Society, and was elected President of the I and VI International Congresses of Surgeons. He was the organizer, honorary chairman and active participant of special Pirogov medical congresses. These congresses were held by members of the Society of Russian Doctors - the most representative scientific society of pre-revolutionary Russia, uniting representatives of all medical specialties. Two, or even two and a half thousand people gathered at these congresses, that is, almost every ninth doctor in Russia came.

By the way, a young doctor, the future famous writer A.P. Chekhov received a diploma of graduation from Moscow University from the hands of the dean of the medical faculty N.V. Sklifosovsky.

Unfortunately, Sklifosovsky was seriously ill for the last four years of his life. Only gardening, which he loved to do at his Yakovtsy estate, located in the Poltava province, somewhat distracted him from physical hardships.

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Abstract on the history of medicine

Topic: Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky

Performed

1st year student

Faculty of Medicine

Shcheglova Natalia

Introduction

Main part

1. Brief biography

2. Discoveries of N.V. Sklifosovsky

3. Main works of N.V. Sklifosovsky

4. Participation of N.V. Sklifosovsky in introducing advanced treatment methods and techniques into practice

5. Teaching

6. Participation in hostilities as a military field surgeon

7. Personality N.V. Sklifosovsky

8. Social activities of N.V. Sklifosovsky

9. Participation in perpetuating the merits of N.I. Pirogov

10. Research Institute named after N.V. Sklifosovsky

Conclusion

Literature

Sheet of illustrations

Introduction

Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky is one of the most famous, skillful and active doctors and scientists in Russia. His whole life was devoted to medicine, the discoveries made by Nikolai Vasilyevich moved it forward, and the operations performed by Sklifosovsky with amazing skill saved a large number of lives. I consider him an example of a true doctor - a man dedicated to his work, fearless, courageous in the search for new ways of treatment, sensitive in his relationships with patients and students. It is no coincidence that the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine in Moscow bears his name - saving lives and health, discovering new methods of operations carried out by this research institute were the goals for Nikolai Vasilyevich, whose life serves as proof of the existence of the best human qualities - dedication, devotion and compassion , so I chose this man's life and work as a topic for my research.

1. short biography

Childhood

N.V. Sklifosovsky was born on March 25, 1836 on a farm near the town of Duborossy, Kherson province, into a poor noble family. According to the surviving statistics of that time, it is known that out of 178 children born, 100 died before the age of one year. It was during such a difficult time that N.V. was born. Sklifosovsky. There were 12 children in the family, Nikolai was the ninth child. My father could barely make ends meet. We literally lived from hand to mouth. But honesty, conscientiousness, and fulfilling one’s duty were inherent in everyone in the family. In 1830, during an outbreak of cholera and typhoid, my father carried out important assignments related to measures to eliminate them. But at the same time, he paid attention to his family and children. They were drawn to knowledge. The father himself taught them to read and write, introduced them to reading, but he never dreamed of giving his children an education, especially a higher education. At the outpost, among the military servants during the epidemic, there were Russian doctors who drew attention to the inquisitive Nikolai. Need forced the parents to send some of their children to an orphanage in the city of Odessa, where Nikolai was raised. His mother's stories about his father's work during the cholera epidemic instilled in him a love of medicine. The young man’s dream was to enter the medical faculty.

Education

He received his secondary education at the 2nd Odessa Gymnasium, graduating with a silver medal.

In 1854 N.V. Sklifosovsky entered Moscow University “on government support.”

In 1859 he graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University and began clinical practice. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in Kharkov in 1863 for his dissertation “On a blood circulatory tumor.”

1866-1868 - scientific trip abroad (Germany, the pathological institute of Professor Virchow and the surgical clinic of Professor Langenbeck, France, England). This business trip allowed N.V. Sklifosovsky to get acquainted with surgical schools and areas in advanced European countries.

1870-1871 - Sklifosovsky heads the department of surgical pathology at Kyiv University.

1871 - Nikolai Vasilyevich was invited to head the department of surgical pathology at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy.

1880-1893 - N.V. Sklifosovsky is the head of the faculty surgical clinic of Moscow University, dean of the medical faculty.

1893-1900 - Nikolai Vasilyevich is the director of the Clinical Institute for Advanced Training of Doctors in Moscow.

2. Discoveries N.V. Sklifosovsky, operations first performed by Sklifosovsky

Nikolai Vasilyevich was one of the first to begin performing laparotomy and ovariotomy - these operations laid the foundation for the development of “abdominal” surgery.

Of particular interest is Sklifosovsky’s statement about the harmful effects of cooling the exposed surface of the peritoneum and rough manipulations during surgery. According to him, cooling causes a reflex on the vasomotor nerves of the abdominal cavity, which leads to cooling of the limbs and the entire surface of the body, as well as blue mucous membranes and a weak thread-like pulse, which can cause death of the patient. Sklifosovsky indicated that operations involving opening the abdominal cavity should be carried out in rooms with an air temperature of at least 16-17 degrees, and the surgeon should handle the patient’s tissues with care and prevent injury.

Sklifosovsky was one of the first surgeons to perform gastrostomy on March 8, 1879. In articles published on this issue, Sklifosovsky examines in detail the indications and contraindications for this operation, and also dwells on the details of the operation: difficulties in finding the stomach, applying a double suture, performing the operation in 1 step.

During the activities of Sklifosovsky, surgery of the liver and biliary tract was born in Russia. He was one of the first to operate on the gallbladder.

Sklifosovsky created an anastomosis between the gallbladder and the small intestine, proving the possibility of bile entering the intestine bypassing the excretory bile duct.

In 1885 I.K. Spizharny, at a meeting of the Pirogov Surgical Society, reported a case in which an echinococcal vesicle of the liver opened into the bronchi of the right lung. In this case, Sklifosovsky for the first time carried out a transpleural approach to the tumor with resection of the rib and ensured wide drainage of the bladder after opening.

Sklifosovsky owes much credit for the development of bladder surgery techniques. Suprapubic excision of the bladder, first performed by Franco in 1560, was considered too dangerous a method of performing operations. Sklifosovsky proved the advantage of this method over others, described in detail the course of the operation and the suture technique. Suprapubic opening of the bladder followed by suturing according to the method of N.V. Sklifosovsky for a long time remained the main type of surgery for stones and tumors of the bladder.

One of Sklifosovsky’s works describes 4 cases of tongue removal for total cancer. At that time, surgeons did not perform such an operation, fearing severe bleeding and difficulties in approaching the root of the tongue. Nikolai Vasilyevich developed a new surgical approach to the root of the tongue with preliminary ligation of the arteries in the Pirogov triangle on both sides, which makes the operation bloodless. He also pays attention to the tongue removal technique - dissection of the integument of the neck, subperiosteal separation of the muscles of the floor of the mouth, etc.

Among the first operations (1874), Sklifosovsky performed goiter excision, which marked the beginning of the development of thyroid surgery.

Sklifosovsky developed and proposed a specially designed device that allows maintaining anesthesia throughout the entire operation - resection of the upper jaws for cancer.

While operating on the upper jaw for congenital cleft palate, Sklifosovsky was the first to use local anesthesia with a cocaine solution.

An outstanding innovation by N.V. Sklifosovsky is the method he proposed for surgery on bones for false joints (this method entered the literature under the name “Russian castle” or “Sklifosovsky castle”). To keep the ends of the femur in direct contact at the fracture site, a median cut is made at both ends of the bone, then at the end of the first cut a second cut is made in the transverse direction; the sawn halves are removed and the surfaces at the ends come into contact with each other. They are secured with 1-2 metal seams.

3. WorksN.V. Sklifosovsky

N.V. Sklifosovsky’s pen includes more than 110 scientific works devoted to the most diverse areas of surgery:

a) gynecology (which at that time was a department of surgery and was just beginning to practically dissociate itself from it); N.V. Sklifosovsky devoted his dissertation and a number of works to this section;

b) new methods of operations, first used in Russia (goiter operations, gastrostomy, cholecystostomy, bladder suture, resection of cerebral hernia);

c) bone and osteoplastic surgery: resection of joints, jaws, operations for false joints;

d) issues of military field surgery.

A short list of works by N.V. Sklifosovsky:

1. " ABOUT hematopoietic tumor" Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, Odessa, 1863; Science articles:

2. " On the issue of Pirogov osteoplastic ablation of the tibia", "Military Medical Journal", 1877, May;

3. " About peritoneal injury» , same place, July;

4. " From observations during the Slavic War of 1867-1877.”, ibid., November;

6. " Excision of a tumor of the uterus, both ovaries", "Medical Bulletin", 1869;

7. " Transport machine in a carriage for transporting the wounded. Transporting the wounded from the battlefield. Our hospital work during the war", ibid., 1877;

8. " Gastrostomy for narrowing of the esophagus» , ibid., 1878;

9. « Cutting out the tongue after preliminary ligation of the lingual arteries» , "Doctor", 1880;

10. " Is it possible to excise the abdominal press (pressum abdominale) in a person? Use of iodoform in surgery» , ibid., 1882;

eleven. " Bladder suture in suprapubic section» , ibid., 1887;

12. " Liver tumor excision", ibid., 1890;

13. " Hernia of the meninges. Removal of a cerebral hernia sac by cutting out", "Chronicles of the Surgical Society in Moscow"

4. Participation of N.V. Sklifosovsky in introducing advanced treatment methods and techniques into practice

Sklifosovsky was among the first to use antiseptics, and then asepsis, and ardently promoted antiseptics in scientific societies and at congresses.

Nikolai Vasilyevich contributed to the spread and popularization of gastric resection.

5. Teaching activities

Places of teaching: Kiev University, Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg

Teaching methodology: Nikolai Vasilyevich, more than anyone else, saw the existing gaps in the teaching of practical disciplines and sought to fill them by personally demonstrating the technique of not only complex operations, but also performing simple surgical procedures. Students admired his skillful techniques when examining patients or performing very complex operations in hard-to-reach areas.

N.V. Sklifosovsky willingly taught students various research techniques and rules for caring for surgical patients. At the same time, he always emphasized the need to strictly protect the patient’s psyche from unnecessary worries, especially at the time of examination, but not to the detriment of clarifying the nature of the disease itself. Sklifosovsky advised his students: “Cut only what you see.” In one of the reports, the following words are found: “Professor Sklifosovsky lays the basis for the surgical technique mainly on 2 principles - to dissect only what you see or can touch quite clearly, and then make any section based on knowledge of anatomy.”

Attitude towards patients: he knew how to win over patients, instilling in them a feeling of boundless trust and faith in medicine. He, modest and demanding of himself, always sensitive and responsive, knew how to cultivate these qualities in his students. He did not like rudeness or liberty towards the patient. There was a strictly business atmosphere in the clinic. He did not humiliate or bully anyone; he always treated them with exquisite politeness, emphasizing his respect for the person, regardless of his position.

Relations with students: Nikolai Vasilyevich devoted his free time to practical work with students. For example, on days free from lectures, or on Sundays, he made rounds for the sick with students. At the same time, the curators present at the rounds were required to report on their patients. Sklifosovsky emphasized the advantage of Russian students, who during their studies mastered the skills of communicating with patients, over foreign students, who met patients only at lectures.

Sklifosovsky's clinic was a favorite place for students: they could independently bandage their patient, assist in operations, and perform night shifts.

Students of Sklifosovsky: many scientific and practical figures in the field of surgery graduated from the residency at Nikolai Vasilyevich’s clinic: Spizharny, Sarychev, Yakovlev, Dobrotvorsky, Chuprov, Sakharov, Vilga, Rezvyakov, Kormilov, Yanovsky, Krasintsev and others.

6. Participation of Nikolai Vasilyevich in hostilities as a military field surgeon

N.V. Sklifosovsky participated in 4 major wars in Europe as an ordinary surgeon and hospital consultant.

Sklifosovsky participated in hostilities since 1866 (Austro-Prussian War). As a young doctor, he joined the active army to study field surgery. The result of his stay in this war was an article published in the Medical Bulletin for 1867 - “Note on observations during the last German war of 1866.”

In 1876, Nikolai Vasilyevich was appointed a surgical consultant to one of the Red Cross hospitals in Montenegro, where he stayed for 4 months. He outlined his memories in a work published in the Military Medical Journal in 1876 under the title “From observations during the Slavic War of 1876.” Of great interest are Sklifosovsky’s observations of the course of gunshot wounds of the abdominal and thoracic organs. An important fact noted by Sklifosovsky is that not all gunshot injuries to the chest are life-threatening. He notes that such wounds are dangerous in cases of bone fragmentation and penetration of fragments into the bullet channel, since fragments of the ribs forcefully penetrate into the lung tissue, destroy it and cause the development of suppuration - empyema. The presence of spilled blood in the pleural cavity complicates the course of the wound process and accelerates the formation of inflammatory phenomena. Sklifosovsky describes pyothorax as follows: “Immediately after the wound to the chest, hemoptysis is detected, and a picture of blood pouring into the chest cavity occurs. A few days later, a feverish state appears and a picture of purulent accumulation in the chest develops.” He points out that the appearance of pus in the chest is associated with the nature of the gunshot wound and the complications that cause the development of infection.

Sklifosovsky attached great importance to the creation of peace for the wounded for a favorable outcome of chest wounds.

Nikolai Vasilyevich’s rich knowledge and the experience he acquired found wide application in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877. Sklifosovsky tried to transfer the strict hygienic regime developed in the clinic to the organization of hospital care during the war; as a result, the number of patients with infection in Nikolai Vasilyevich’s departments was significantly less than in other departments. After the end of the campaign, Sklifosovsky appeared in print with a number of interesting works: “ In hospitals and dressing stations during the Turkish War», « Our hospital work during the war», « Transportation of the wounded and sick by rail», « Tarantas machine in a carriage for transporting the wounded».

N.V. Sklifosovsky and S.P. Botkin were ardent supporters of bringing medical care closer to the wounded, which was reflected in the activities of the forward and main dressing stations.

7. Personality N.V. Sklifosovsky

N.V. Sklifosovsky left a glorious memory of himself as a major teacher with high culture and erudition, an educator of youth, and an ardent patriot of his homeland. The clinic he led was a wonderful school for students, scientists and many thousands of doctors who flocked here for improvement from all over Russia.

N.V. Sklifosovsky was a true patriot. He zealously defended the interests of the Russian people in the struggle for the prosperity of domestic science. For example, thanks to the intervention of Sklifosovsky, it was possible to establish the priority of the Russian doctor Vladimirov over the German Mikulich in the invention of a new method of osteoplastic surgery on the foot.

Well-educated, fluent in several languages, with great endurance and self-control, he was a sensitive and responsive doctor.

During military operations, he infected everyone around him with unparalleled hard work, instilled in them vigor and fortitude, and forced them to meekly endure all the hardships and hardships of front-line life. Eyewitnesses tell how this apparently elegant and well-groomed civilian general in a spotlessly clean uniform was able to remain for several days without food and without sleep, constantly being at the operating table, in the dressing room or in the triage departments of the main hospital.

Nikolai Vasilyevich enjoyed great respect and love not only among doctors, but also among wide circles of the Russian intelligentsia. This popularity was a consequence of his high merits as a clinician-surgeon, scientist, lecturer and public figure.

Some considered Sklifosovsky a proud and inaccessible person. In fact, under the external severity there was a very soft and warm-hearted person.

N.V. Sklifosovsky was a leading Russian scientist who put scientific and public interests above personal ones.

8. Social activity

N.V. Sklifosovsky was the editor of the first special scientific surgical journals of that time in Moscow: “Surgical Chronicle” and “Chronicle of Russian Surgeons”. He spent significant amounts of his own money on the publication of these magazines. Congresses, meetings of scientific societies and journals contributed greatly to the development of surgical thought and the education of surgeons. N.V. Sklifosovsky showed his enormous talent as an organizer and public figure during the preparation and holding of the XII International Congress of Doctors (August 7, 1897, Moscow); N.V. Sklifosovsky was elected its president. He was aware of the enormous scientific and political significance of the International Congress of Doctors, which met for the first time in Russia. This congress demonstrated to the entire scientific world the power and importance of Russian science. Foreign doctors were able to see firsthand the achievements of Russian medicine. The myth about their imaginary superiority over the Russians was dispelled.

Nikolai Vasilyevich put a lot of work into the organization and construction of a new clinical campus on Devichye Pole in Moscow.

It is no coincidence that at the final meeting of the congress, the famous Rudolf Virchow, who at that time enjoyed unquestioned authority, referring to N.V. Sklifosovsky, said on behalf of the foreign delegates of the congress: “We met here a president whose authority is recognized by representatives of all branches of medical science, a man who, with full knowledge of all working medical practice, also combines the quality of a doctor of the soul, has a spirit of brotherhood and a feeling of love for all humanity... We met here young people - strong, intelligent, fully prepared for the progress of the future - the hope of this great and valiant science." Sklifosovsky teaching treatment surgeon

N.V. Sklifosovsky was an ardent supporter of women's education in Russia. Thanks to the participation of Nikolai Vasilyevich, “Special women’s courses for the education of learned midwives” were opened at the Medical-Surgical Academy, where women could receive higher medical education.

9. ParticipationNikolai Vasilievichin perpetuatingglory of Nikolai IvanovichPirogov

On the eve of the opening of the International Congress, the grand opening of the monument to Pirogov took place. This monument was erected thanks to the initiative and energy of N.V. Sklifosovsky, who personally achieved the “highest permission” for the installation of the monument, and was built using collected private donations, and not at public expense. Referring to Pirogov’s merits, N.V. Sklifosovsky said: “The principles introduced into science by Pirogov will remain an eternal contribution and cannot be erased from its tablets as long as European science exists, until the last sound of rich Russian speech freezes in this place... ". This was the first monument to a scientist in Russia.

Sklifosovsky spoke in print in defense of Pirogov’s osteoplastic surgery, which was met unfriendly by foreign surgeons.

10. Research Institute named after N.V. Sklifosovsky

Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky was founded in 1923 on the basis of one of the oldest Moscow hospitals, opened in 1810 by Count N.P. Sheremetev as a Hospice House. Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky is a large multidisciplinary scientific and practical center on the problems of emergency medical care, emergency surgery, resuscitation, combined and burn trauma, emergency cardiology and acute poisoning. In total, the institute has currently formed more than 40 scientific units, more than half of them are clinical, which correspond to the profile of the most common emergency pathologies. The great scientific and practical potential of the staff, modern equipment make it possible to successfully develop new and improve existing methods for diagnosing and treating emergency conditions, which makes it possible to treat patients with the most severe and complicated acute surgical diseases and injuries, to advise and transfer patients from other medical institutions to the institute for treatment. Every year, on average, 52,000 patients from various regions of the Russian Federation receive qualified care at the Institute, 22,000 patients are hospitalized. In addition, visiting teams of specialists in neurosurgery, endoscopy and endotoxicosis provide advisory and specialized assistance to Moscow hospitals.

The institute employs 820 researchers and doctors, including 2 academicians and 2 corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 37 professors, 78 doctors and 167 candidates of medical sciences. The institute has 922 inpatient beds, of which 114 are intensive care beds. More than 20,000 different operations are performed on the basis of its branches throughout the year. 25,000 patients receive emergency care on an outpatient basis. There are single, double and five-bed rooms with all amenities.

At the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. Over the past 10 years, N.V. Sklifosovsky’s educational and clinical department has been successfully functioning, in which up to 200 clinical residents are trained annually in the following specialties: emergency care; anesthesiology and resuscitation; cardiology; clinical and laboratory diagnostics; neurosurgery; pathological anatomy; psychiatry; obstetrics and gynecology; radiology; endoscopy; toxicology; thoracic surgery; traumatology and orthopedics; ultrasound diagnostics; physiotherapy; functional diagnostics; surgery; radiology; cardiovascular surgery. Postgraduate and doctoral studies are open in the following specialties: cardiology; traumatology and orthopedics; surgery; neurosurgery; anesthesiology and resuscitation; cardiovascular surgery.

The editorial and publishing department prepares for printing and publishes the works of the institute.

The Institute also has a rich scientific and medical library.

The Department of External Scientific Relations coordinates scientific research outside the institute, within the framework of the activities of the Interdepartmental Scientific Council for Emergency Care of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Problem Commission on Emergency Surgery of the Interdepartmental Scientific Council for Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and also searches and processes scientific information and conducts work in the field of the history of medicine.

Over the past 10 years, approximately 235 case studies have been carried out to improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment. 62 monographs, about 4,100 scientific articles and other publications, including 86 collections of works, have been published. Institute staff have also written a large number of chapters and sections in books published by other institutions. 43 patents and certificates of invention were received, 32 improvement proposals were accepted for use. 140 dissertations were defended, including 25 doctoral dissertations. The implementation of scientific research results into practice has a positive effect on improving medical work.

The growth of the level of scientific research led in 2001 to the creation at the Institute of a Dissertation Council for the defense of doctoral dissertations in the field of surgery, anesthesiology and resuscitation, traumatology and neurosurgery.

To improve the professional level of doctors, more than 100 scientific and practical conferences and seminars were held, more than 130 information and methodological documents were published.

A major role in solving scientific and practical problems and in coordinating scientific research on the territory of the Russian Federation is played by the Problem Commissions of the Scientific Council for Emergency Medical Care in the field of combined trauma, cardiology and clinical toxicology and the Problem Commission on Emergency Surgery. The research results are analyzed in the department of external scientific relations. This significantly accelerates the implementation of advanced achievements of medical science.

Conclusion

Nikolai Vasilyevich lived a wonderful life. Like a real doctor, he was a moral example for those around him - without paying attention to his own desires and needs, he was ready to fulfill his duty at any time of the day. Like a real scientist, he was not afraid of anything, or rather, he was looking for ways to eliminate undesirable consequences. His brilliant mind was busy all his life solving problems of scientific and practical medicine, educating students and creating better conditions for society. Nikolai Vasilyevich was a real, true patriot who glorified his Motherland and people. A fearless, strict scientist, an attentive, understanding doctor - Nikolai Vasilyevich was a man of whom we are proud and whose memory we honor today.

Literature

1. http://www.dubossary.ru/page.php?75

2. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D1%EA%EB%E8%F4%EE%F1%EE%E2%F1%EA%E8%E9,_%CD%E8%EA%EE %EB%E0%E9_%C2%E0%F1%E8%EB%FC%E5%E2%E8%F7

3. http://www.sklifos.ru/Spravka.htm

4. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CC%EE%F1%EA%EE%E2%F1%EA%E8%E9_%E3%EE%F0%EE%E4%F1%EA%EE %E9_%ED%E0%F3%F7%ED%EE-%E8%F1%F1%EB%E5%E4%EE%E2%E0%F2%E5%EB%FC%F1%EA%E8%E9_% E8%ED%F1%F2%E8%F2%F3%F2_%F1%EA%EE%F0%EE%E9_%EF%EE%EC%EE%F9%E8_%E8%EC%E5%ED%E8_% CD._%C2._%D1%EA%EB%E8%F4%EE%F1%EE%E2%F1%EA%EE%E3%EE

5. http://nplit.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000054/st006.shtml

6. http://homepage.kg/deontologiya_hirurgii/3-n.v.-sklifosovskijj.html

7. V.V. Kovanov, “N.V. Sklifosovsky", M. 1993.

Sheet of illustrations

Figure 1. Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky

Figure 2. Research Institute named after N.V. Sklifosovsky

Figure 3. Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov

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Sklifosovsky Nikolai Vasilievich (b. 1836 - d. 1904)

Sklifosovsky Nikolay Vasilievich

(b. 1836 – d. 1904)

Outstanding Russian scientist-surgeon, professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences. He developed many issues regarding the treatment of various diseases, the founder of the rules for the use of antiseptics and aseptics; was the first to seriously tackle the problem of emergency surgery. A major military field surgeon, he took part in four wars in the period 1866 – 1878. Author of more than 85 scientific papers. The Institute of Emergency Medicine in Moscow (since 1923) and the Poltava Regional Clinical Hospital (since 1979) are named after him.

Along with the names of N.I. Pirogov and S.P. Botkin, the name of Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky is one of the most popular in the world of domestic and world medicine of the second half of the 19th century. The merits of this outstanding scientist in the development of science are difficult to overestimate. He became a pioneer in the field of abdominal surgery, introduced the principles of asepsis and antisepsis into surgery, and was the first in the world to use local anesthesia with a cocaine solution. Surgeons still call the “Sklifosovsky Castle” or “Russian Castle” when fixing the broken ends of the femur with metal sutures. He was the first to seriously tackle the problem of emergency surgery. It is no coincidence that the Scientific Research Institute of Emergency Medical Care in Moscow was named after the famous surgeon in 1923. Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was not a Muscovite - he was born on March 20 (April 6), 1836 in the Kherson province, and was buried in the village of Yakovtsy near Poltava. But the fate of this extraordinary man is inextricably linked with Moscow. He came to this city as a recent high school student from Odessa to fulfill his old dream of studying to become a doctor. Here, while studying at the medical faculty of Moscow University, his specialty was determined - surgery, to which he devoted his entire life. It was Moscow, where Nikolai Vasilyevich headed a surgical clinic for 14 years, that became the place of his many years and, perhaps, the most fruitful work.

And Nikolai Sklifosovsky began his professional career in 1859 at the Odessa City Hospital as the head of the surgical department. By practicing, he persistently improved his professional skills. Three years later, the doctor received his Doctor of Medicine degree. Sklifosovsky defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “On a blood circulatory tumor” in Kharkov in 1863. But even then he believed that he did not yet have sufficient knowledge and experience. To get them, in 1866 the young doctor of science went on a business trip abroad. Over several years, during which he managed to work in the best clinics in Germany, England and France, Sklifosovsky became acquainted with various surgical schools and studied the features of the organization of medical care in these countries. It was then 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! Sklifosovsky firmly insisted on the need for sterilization; he was one of the first to develop a practical method of surgical disinfection.

The achievements of Nikolai Sklifosovsky in the development of military field surgery are also enormous. Nikolai Vasilyevich took direct part in four wars. As a military field surgeon, he widely applied the ideas of his teacher Pirogov in practice; developed not only the issues of treating the wounded, but also the very system of organizing medical care during hostilities. The first time the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 caught Sklifosovsky when he was working at the Langenbeck clinic. From there, having received permission from the Austrian government, the doctor went to the front. The second time he went to war, already as a professor at Kyiv University, this time during the Franco-Prussian campaign of 1870. Here Sklifosovsky saw the widespread use in the German army of Russian-style hospital tents, proposed and warmly recommended by Pirogov. Sklifosovsky later wrote about these tents more than once and complained that the military department in his homeland did not introduce them.

For the third time, the doctor saved the lives of the wounded during the war in the Balkans. Sklifosovsky was sent to Montenegro as a consultant surgeon for the Red Cross, and then in 1877 he left for the Russian-Turkish war. There he worked together with N.I. Pirogov, who gave a brilliant review of the professional training of his student and colleague. The experience of the three previous wars taught Nikolai Vasilyevich a lot, and therefore in the Turkish campaign his activity as a military field surgeon was especially brilliant.

Sklifosovsky was not only a talented doctor, but also an experienced organizer. To this we must add that Nikolai Vasilyevich showed great personal courage during heavy battles near Plevna and especially at Grabov, at the foot of Shipka, when he had to work under enemy fire. It was later calculated that more than ten thousand wounded passed directly through his hands. Nikolai Vasilyevich sometimes operated for four days without sleep or rest. Doctors and nurses, among whom was Sofya Alexandrovna, Nikolai Vasilyevich’s wife, who accompanied her husband to the war and did not leave him no matter the difficulties of military life at the front, supported Nikolai Vasilyevich’s strength by occasionally pouring a few sips of wine into his mouth.

Numerous colleagues and students of the talented doctor recalled for a long time and with gratitude this hot period of his work, when Sklifosovsky showed himself not only to be an incomparable master of surgery, but also a person who united and inspired everyone around him with his valor and heroism. “As a reward for selflessness and courage” in the battles near Plevna, Sklifosovsky was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree. Activities during the war provided the remarkable surgeon with material for the publication of several works on military medicine and military sanitary affairs, including “Transportation of the wounded in war”, “Our hospital work in war”, etc. All of them are a valuable contribution to the treasury of world science.

The authority of N.V. Sklifosovsky's reputation among domestic doctors grew year by year. In 1870, the innovative surgeon was elected professor at Kyiv University. A year later, he took a position as a teacher of surgical pathology at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, the only educational institution in Russia at that time that trained military doctors. Eight years later, Nikolai Vasilyevich moved to the department of a surgical clinic in Moscow. This was a bold step, since at that time the clinic was in a completely neglected state. “There the air in the wards was such that a fresh person would feel sick. There was a real kingdom of death, all you could see was how they carried out the dead...” This was approximately the general picture in Moscow surgical clinics at the moment when Sklifosovsky took over the leadership of the faculty surgical department. But the surgeon set to work so energetically that his clinic soon became one of the best medical institutions in Europe. Here in Moscow, using antiseptics, Sklifosovsky began performing blind suturing of the bladder, goiter and cerebral hernia operations. He was one of the first not only in Russia, but also in Europe to introduce hot processing of instruments and medical linen and achieved an almost complete absence of postoperative complications and infections. And the repertoire of operations has expanded even more. The crowning achievement of all was the already mentioned osteoplastic operations, which were included in all world textbooks of surgery under the name “Russian castle” or “Sklifosovsky castle”. All these were previously unseen and unheard of things. Many serious diseases, which most doctors considered incurable, were defeated only thanks to the efforts of Sklifosovsky.

Sklifosovsky's authority has risen extremely high not only in Russia, but throughout the world. For the first time, the glory of the Moscow surgical school undoubtedly exceeded the traditional priority of St. Petersburg surgery, and not only with the brilliance and talent of the teacher, but also with a vast and very bright galaxy of assistant students. Sklifosovsky's merits are far from being limited to his activities as an innovative surgeon and a major scientist. With the direct participation of Nikolai Vasilyevich, new clinics were built for Moscow University - an entire hospital campus on Devichye Pole. 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 travel to St. Petersburg more than once to see the Minister of Health.

However, Sklifosovsky did not stop there 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 doctors began to be held in Russia for the first time. The XII International Congress of Surgeons organized by Sklifosovsky, held in Moscow in 1897, had the greatest resonance. 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!”

Sklifosovsky was in charge of the clinic for almost a decade and a half, and during this time many doctors from different countries of the world visited it. Nikolai Vasilyevich believed that doctors should be periodically gathered for professional retraining in accordance with the latest advances in medicine. Being a convinced supporter of improving the level of knowledge of practicing doctors in Russia, in 1893 he accepted an offer to head the first and only institution of its kind in all of Europe - the Clinical Institute for Advanced Medical Studies in St. Petersburg. This new business also required a lot of effort from him: it was necessary not only to rebuild the old buildings, but also to equip them with everything necessary. But Sklifosovsky was already over 60 at that time! The scientist also put a lot of effort into creating medical journals. He founded two publications - “The Surgical Chronicle” and “The Chronicle of Russian Surgery”, and in order to reduce their cost and make them more accessible, the doctor spent significant amounts of his own money.

Despite his wide popularity, N.V. Sklifosovsky was modest and did not like it when there was a stir around his name. For example, he categorically refused to be honored when his colleagues decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his activity at Moscow University. But still, the hero of the day received many congratulations from all over Russia and from many countries of the world: prominent scientists, doctors, and grateful patients wrote. More than four hundred telegrams were received in Moscow alone.

The last years of the famous scientist’s life were spent far from Moscow and St. Petersburg - in the Yakovtsy estate, in the Poltava region. How did the luminary of Russian surgery, a professor at the Moscow Medical Institute, director of the world's first St. Petersburg Clinical Institute, end up in his declining years in a village near Poltava? Apparently, Sklifosovsky, whom Pirogov considered his best student, followed the example of his teacher. While working in Moscow, he often visited Pirogov at his estate “Cherry” in the Vinnitsa district of the Kamenets-Podolsk province. Living in the Little Russian outback, Sklifosovsky rested his soul. It was not for nothing that for the last thirty years he spent his holidays in the Poltava region, in Yakovtsy, where his wife’s family estate was located. On the steep bank of the Vorskla there was a house and garden of the Sklifosovskys, from where a picturesque panorama of the wide expanses of the Poltava region opened up. The years passed, and every summer Nikolai Vasilyevich hurried to his beloved Yakovtsy. And although he came here to rest, the same receptions of patients continued in the village as in the city. As soon as summer came, carts with patients were pulled to Yakovtsy for an appointment with Sklifosovsky. The professor performed operations, gave free medicines, delivered babies, and visited the sick in the villages. Nikolai Vasilyevich was very respected among the residents of the region. He bowed his head to everyone he met, said hello, always talked, and gave advice. Sklifosovsky was very proud of the trust that people placed in him.

In 1900, Nikolai Vasilyevich came to Yakovtsy forever. He spent the last four years of his life here without a break. At this time, the famous surgeon was no longer practicing. The tragic death of his son Vladimir affected Nikolai Vasilyevich’s performance and health. While studying in St. Petersburg, the young man became interested in politics and joined a terrorist organization. Before leaving for the Christmas holidays, the young man received an assignment - to carry out a terrorist attack against the Poltava governor. But having arrived in Yakovtsi, Vladimir realized that he would not be able to cope with the task - his family maintained friendly relations with this man. The holidays were ending, however, the son of the famous surgeon could not return to St. Petersburg without completing the assignment. And then he shot himself. Nikolai Vasilyevich had a hard time with the death of his son; he suffered several strokes. Having recovered a little from his illness, the scientist took up gardening. One of the famous doctor’s merits is the spread of viticulture (this heat-loving plant had not been grown in the Poltava region before). But the improvement in Sklifosovsky’s health was short-lived - on November 30, 1904, he died suddenly. The outstanding scientist was buried next to his son, not far from the church. For thirty post-war years, a cast-iron stove lay on his grave... with a star. The fact is that in the late 1940s, when the city authorities installed cast iron slabs on the graves of soldiers buried in Glory Park, the same slab was also placed on Sklifosovsky’s grave. Since then, it has had a five-pointed star on it, like on the graves of warriors. Only many years later, at the burial site of the famous surgeon, a tombstone made of black labradorite was installed, on which the words of the famous Dutch doctor Van Tulp, “By shining on others, I burn myself,” were carved in Russian and English. Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky carried this noble motto throughout his life.

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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 of the 19th 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, contrary to 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 the Russo-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 the eldest daughter Olga lived to old age. 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 the 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.

(1836-1904) Russian surgeon

Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was born on April 6, 1836 near the city of Dubossary in the former Kherson province. After graduating from the Odessa gymnasium, the young man entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1859. After working for some time as a doctor in his homeland, he moved to Odessa. Nikolai Vasilyevich works first as a resident, then as head of the surgical department of the Odessa City Hospital.

After defending his doctoral dissertation, Nikolai Sklifosovsky was sent abroad in 1866 for two years. During this time he visited Germany, France and England. The business trip allowed him to get acquainted with surgical schools and areas in advanced European countries.

At the end of his business trip, he returned to the surgical department of the Odessa City Hospital, and in 1870 he was invited to the department of Kyiv University. But he did not stay in Kyiv for long. As a true follower of Pirogov, Sklifosovsky correctly assessed the importance of practical education for a surgeon, especially knowledge of military field surgery. And temporarily leaving the department in Kyiv, he went to the front of the Franco-Prussian War, where he was able to study the work of military hospitals. In 1871, Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was invited to the department at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, where he taught surgical pathology, while simultaneously heading the clinical department of a military hospital. He lived during one of the turning points in the history of science and, in particular, medicine. The end of the first half of the 19th century and the beginning of the second were characterized by the flourishing of chemistry and the emergence of bacteriology (microbiology), associated with the works of Louis Pasteur. In surgery, this period was marked by two important events: the introduction of general anesthesia with ether and chloroform (1846-1847) and the introduction of antiseptics (1867), which essentially was the first attempt to use microbiology in medical practice.

Nikolai Sklifosovsky has great merit in introducing into surgical practice disinfection using chemicals and sterilization of dressings, as well as linen, instruments and hygienic preparation of patients for surgery. New discoveries do not always come into life easily, and so it was with antiseptics. Even major specialists in Europe and Russia did not want to recognize the method of fighting microbes using antiseptics, which opened a new era in surgery.

In 1876, Nikolai Sklifosovsky went to the front for the third time, he participated in the Balkan and then in the Russian-Turkish (1877-1878) wars. In Montenegro, the surgeon worked as a consultant to the Red Cross, and during the Russian-Turkish War he was not only a practicing surgeon providing assistance to the wounded under enemy bullets, but also an organizer of surgical care. It was here that Sklifosovsky used antiseptics for the first time in military field conditions. He showed personal courage in battles during the crossing of the Danube, during the assault on Plevna and at the foot of Shipka, and worked without sleep for several days. In the field of military field medicine, Nikolai Sklifosovsky was a true successor to the work of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov. He insisted on creating mobile sanitary teams that would work close to the front.

In 1880, Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was unanimously elected to the department of the faculty surgical clinic of the medical faculty of Moscow University. He managed this clinic for 14 years. Under his leadership, it earned a reputation as the best in Russia. The use of antiseptics (sterilization of dressings, etc.) significantly increased the number of successful surgical outcomes, and soon new methods of surgical interventions began to be used.

Thanks to his constant study of the basics of surgery, Sklifosovsky brilliantly mastered surgical techniques. The outstanding surgeon was one of the first to introduce gastrosection in Russia - opening the abdominal cavity (laparotomy), one of the first to perform gastrostomy surgery (gastric fistula), goiter surgery, removal of the larynx, cerebral hernia surgery and others. In complex plastic surgery operations, he also proved himself not only as a master of surgical technique, but also as the author of new methods. One of these operations for false joints called “Sklifosovsky’s castle” or “Russian’s castle” was developed and successfully carried out, and later described in Russian and foreign medical textbooks.

Nikolai Sklifosovsky was an equally brilliant surgeon in both peaceful and military field surgery. In addition, he devoted a lot of energy to social activities: he took an active part in the creation of a clinical campus on Devichye Pole in Moscow, where clinics of Moscow University (later the 1st Moscow Medical Institute) later grew up. Sklifosovsky was twice elected dean of the medical faculty of Moscow University.

In 1893, Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was appointed director of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies in St. Petersburg, where he worked until 1900. During the seven years of heading this institute, Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky built new buildings, increased staff, equipped operating rooms, etc. During this time, the institute grew into an institution of which Russia could be proud.

Sklifosovsky actively promoted 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 he organized had the greatest resonance. It took place in Moscow in 1897.

The congress attracted thousands of participants; it was necessary to expend a lot of work, time, and show initiative in order to successfully hold it and worthily present the achievements of Russian science at it. Nikolai Sklifosovsky coped with this task brilliantly.

On the eve of the opening of the 12th International Congress, the grand opening of the monument to N. I. Pirogov took place. This was the first monument in Russia erected to a scientist, according to a design created free of charge by the sculptor Sherwood. It was erected thanks to the initiative and energy of Sklifosovsky, who personally achieved the “highest permission” for its installation. It was built with private donations from doctors.

Nikolai Sklifosovsky also put a lot of effort into creating medical journals. The scientist founded two publications - “The Surgical Chronicle” and “The Chronicle of Russian Surgery”, and in order to reduce the cost and make them more accessible, he spent significant amounts of his own money.

In his personal life he was modest. When they wanted to celebrate his 65th anniversary, the outstanding surgeon refused a solemn honor, although the whole world, various institutions and individuals responded to such an event, from the luminaries of science to the patients he saved.

In 1900, after suffering a cerebral stroke, Sklifosovsky left his job and St. Petersburg and went to his estate near Poltava, where he enjoyed his favorite gardening. On December 13, 1904, at the sixty-eighth year of his life, Nikolai Vasilyevich died and was buried near the site of the Battle of Poltava.

One of the best hospitals and emergency care institute in Moscow bears the name of the outstanding Russian surgeon - Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky.