"A people respecting the memory of their outstanding ancestors deserves the right to look to the future."
N.V. Sklifosovsky
The famous Russian doctor Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky was born on April 6, 1836 in the family of an impoverished nobleman. The Sklifosovskys lived on a farm located in the Kherson province, not far from the city of Dubossary. Nikolai was the ninth child of his parents, and in total there were twelve children in the family. Father, Vasily Pavlovich, served as an ordinary clerk in the Dubossary quarantine office. He received little, the money Sklifosovsky earned was barely enough for food. It was a difficult time. In 1830, a typhus epidemic broke out suddenly, followed by an outbreak of cholera. According to the statistics of those years, out of 200 born children, about a hundred died before even one year.
Despite the workload of important assignments related to measures to eliminate diseases, Nikolai's father managed to pay enough attention to his children. In particular, Vasily Pavlovich himself taught them to read and write, but he had no hopes of giving the children any worthwhile education. Every year, the financial situation of the Sklifosovsky family was getting worse, and, in the end, at the family council it was decided to send the younger children to an orphanage. So young Kolya ended up in the Odessa orphanage. From an early age he had a chance to experience the bitter feelings of loneliness and homelessness, from which he soon began to find salvation in his studies. He was especially interested in natural sciences, foreign and ancient languages, and literature. The teaching became for the boy not only an outlet, but also a goal - to conquer an unkind fate, to overcome difficult everyday circumstances and his unenviable position.
Nikolai graduated from high school among the best students. A silver medal and an excellent certificate gave him certain privileges when entering the university. It should be added that by that time the young boy, who had grown up on his father's stories about his work during the cholera epidemic, already knew exactly what he wanted to do in the future - to treat people. Full of aspirations and hopes, Nikolai went to the First See in order to enter the medical faculty of Moscow University. Sklifosovsky passed almost all the entrance exams in theoretical subjects with excellent marks (he only passed physics and zoology with good marks). The leadership of the educational institution was simply fascinated by the hard work of the new student, and soon after the start of training, an order appeared to transfer the pupil of the Odessa order, Nikolai Sklifosovsky, to state support.
At that time, true enthusiasts of their field worked at the university, among whom stood out: Fedor Inozemtsev, who was one of the first to use ether anesthesia, and the outstanding physiologist Vasily Basov, who taught a course in theoretical surgery. It was these two beacons of medical science that had a decisive influence on the choice of a medical profile by Nikolai Vasilievich, as well as his passion for topographic anatomy and surgery. In addition, the young student independently studied the works of the founder of Russian military field surgery, Nikolai Pirogov. Subsequently, referring to the merits of Nikolai Ivanovich, Sklifosovsky will say: "The principles introduced by Pirogov into science will remain an eternal contribution and will not be erased from its tablets until the last sound of colorful Russian speech stops ...".
In material terms, while studying at the university, Nikolai Vasilyevich was still in a disastrous situation, being completely dependent on the Odessa order. The officials of the order managed to expel his wretched scholarship with a huge delay. A curious case, in 1859, when Sklifosovsky, brilliantly graduating from the university, was going to leave for Odessa to the place of his future work, the Odessa order delayed, by tradition, his last scholarship. In this regard, Nikolai Vasilyevich had to borrow money for travel from university teachers.
In 1859, a twenty-three-year-old boy got a job in the surgical department of one of the city hospitals in Odessa as an ordinary resident. Nevertheless, this modest position allowed Sklifosovsky to gain the material independence and professional independence he had long desired. Nikolai Vasilyevich worked in the city hospital for ten years, during which he gained experience. During these years, he studied anatomy in detail, devoted a lot of time to autopsy. The lack of ventilation and poor equipment in the sectional room did not bother him. For the study of the structure of the human body, Sklifosovsky sat up to complete exhaustion, once he was even found lying near a corpse in a deep swoon.
Nikolai Vasilievich's career went without difficulty, but the regalia of the young doctor were not important - in the first place he always had a constant surgical practice. At the age of twenty-seven (in 1863) he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at Kharkov University and went on a business trip abroad for two years to "improve." For a couple of years Sklifosovsky managed to visit Germany and France - to practice at the Pathological Institute of Rudolf Virchow, at the clinic of the outstanding nineteenth-century surgeon Bernhardt von Langenbeck, with the surgeon August Nelaton, as well as to go to England and Scotland to get acquainted with local medical schools and local medical schools university. While training abroad, Nikolai Vasilievich met famous Western doctors, and his speeches at European surgical congresses aroused keen interest among colleagues. In the future, Sklifosovsky always closely followed the development of European science and kept in touch with the largest foreign clinics, often visiting them and taking part in international congresses.
After the end of the business trip, Sklifosovsky decided to get acquainted with military field surgery. Having asked permission from the Russian government, Nikolai Vasilyevich went to the Austro-Prussian War. There he actively worked in hospitals and dressing posts, even took part in the largest battle of that campaign - the Battle of Sadov (July 3, 1866), for which he was awarded the Iron Cross.
It should be noted that, despite the successful promotion, the surgeon's family was far from smooth. All his life, defying death and almost always winning this fight, Nikolai Vasilyevich was completely powerless in the face of personal tragedy. His beloved wife, Elizaveta Grigorievna, died of typhus when she was barely twenty-four years old. Nikolai Vasilyevich has three children left in his arms - Olga, Nikolai and Konstantin. It seemed to Sklifosovsky in those days that everything was over. He is a promising doctor, unable to save his own wife. Why would he, in this case, need to continue studying, why would he need to hang around in the operating room for days? However, gradually the feeling of powerlessness and guilt began to recede. And soon a new love appeared in the life of Nikolai Vasilyevich. Sofya Alexandrovna worked in their house as a governess, and she knew how to get along well with the children - as soon as she went into their room, she was immediately filled with laughter, joyful cries and noisy fuss. Over time, the young governess managed to become a friend not only to the children of the famous doctor, but also to himself. Friendship turned into love, and after a while they got married. Their marriage turned out to be surprisingly happy and lasting. They had four babies - Alexander, Boris, Vladimir and Tamara. All the children of the doctor got along well with each other. Sofya Aleksandrovna, on the other hand, skillfully managed the household, understood her spouse at a glance and never drew a line between the children of Elizabeth Grigorievna and her own.
At the end of the war, the young doctor returned to his native surgical department of the Odessa hospital, but his name had already become known in the medical world, and in the same year, thanks to the recommendation of the famous Pirogov, Nikolai Vasilyevich was invited to the place of head of the department of surgery at Kiev University. He gladly accepted the honorary position, but did not remain in it for long. A true supporter of Pirogov's methods, Sklifosovsky primarily for the surgeon put the importance and significance of practical education, in particular the experience of military field surgery. In this regard, leaving for a while the department in the city of Kiev, he went to the front line of the Franco-Prussian war, where he learned the wisdom of staging the work of military hospitals.
In 1871 Sklifosovsky received an invitation from the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy. He moved there and taught at first surgical pathology, simultaneously heading the surgical department of a military hospital, and from 1878 headed the surgical clinic of the Baronet Jacob Willie. In addition, in 1876, Nikolai Vasilyevich again went to war, this time to Montenegro, as a consultant in surgery at the Red Cross. The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), which erupted shortly thereafter, also called him into the active army. It was the hardest time for the brave doctor. He bandaged wounded soldiers during the crossing of the Danube, worked as a surgeon on Shipka and near Plevna. His wife Sofya Aleksandrovna, who followed her husband, recalled: "After many operations in a row in a hot and stuffy operating room, breathing in iodoform, ether, carbolic acid, Nikolai came to me with a terrible headache ...". The assistance provided by the surgeon often took place under enemy bullets, the screams and groans of the wounded were muffled by the roar of cannonade, and Nikolai Vasilyevich risked his life no less than the soldiers on the front line. However, for the sake of work, Sklifosovsky could forget about everything. Eyewitnesses told how this outwardly well-groomed and elegant state general was able to stay at the operating table for several days, without sleep or food. In particular, during the counterattacks of the troops of Suleiman Pasha, Sklifosovsky operated for four days in a row without rest and under enemy fire! More than one hundred soldiers who suffered in the battles passed through his hands - according to reports, over 10 thousand Russian soldiers visited his hospitals during that period.
Many participants in the battles survived only thanks to Nikolai Vasilievich. Having participated in four wars, Sklifosovsky gained tremendous experience in treating the wounded and organizing medical support. A thorough analysis of fractures and gunshot wounds made it possible for the doctor to propose a number of important therapeutic and organizational measures, and the disinfection of the operating site and instruments introduced by him significantly reduced mortality. Like Pirogov, the most important task requiring a timely and qualified solution, he considered sorting the wounded. During the triage, Sklifosovsky proposed his own system for dividing patients into four categories: non-transportable, subject to plastering, requiring conventional dressing, and lightly wounded, returning to the front in one or two days. In the category of non-transportable, left in the hospital, the doctor classified the wounded with complex gunshot wounds to large joints and with penetrating wounds of the abdomen and chest. In addition, considering the transportation of the wounded on peasant carts on unpaved roads extremely harmful, the doctor set the terms for the evacuation of patients of different categories.
Sklifosovsky rightly believed that the effectiveness of medical support for the army entirely depends on the competence of the leaders of the medical service, the level of their special training and the flexibility of management. Nikolai Vasilyevich considered it unacceptable to concentrate wounded soldiers in one place, since this would inevitably lead to an outbreak of infection and the death of a huge number of people. He advocated the widespread use of tents for the arrangement of the wounded, who entered the hospitals after battles in huge numbers, and was very sorry that this proposal of Pirogov did not find proper practical application in our army. Sklifosovsky was also the first to suggest the idea of \u200b\u200busing rail transport to evacuate the wounded. He also came up with the idea of \u200b\u200borganizing mobile "flying teams" working in places of maximum concentration of the wounded. All the experience gained as a military surgeon Nikolai Vasilyevich later outlined in articles published in the newspaper "Medical Bulletin" and in the Military Medical Journal.
In 1880 Sklifosovsky transferred to the department of the faculty surgical clinic located in Moscow. In the same year, Nikolai Vasilievich, being a professor, was elected to the post of dean of the medical faculty of Moscow University. In the new place he successfully worked until 1893 - those years spent in Moscow were the most productive period of his scientific and pedagogical activity. He worked in one of the most interesting eras of surgery - the middle of the nineteenth century was marked by major discoveries: antiseptics and general anesthesia with chloroform and ether appeared. These innovations have revolutionized medical practice. The previous stage in the development of surgery was characterized by a huge number of purulent and putrefactive inflammations, gangrene and wound complications with a gigantic mortality rate (up to eighty percent). And the absence of anesthesia significantly limited the use of surgical interventions - without severe and excruciating pain, only short-term operations could be transferred. The surgeons of those times were true virtuoso technicians, the duration of the operations was calculated in minutes, and often in seconds. However, as is often the case, breakthrough discoveries have not always easily entered everyday life. So it happened with antiseptics, that is, disinfection with chemicals. Major experts in Russia and Europe not only did not want to recognize its effectiveness, but even made fun of this method of combating microbes. To introduce the antiseptic method in Russia, an extremely strong authority was needed both among scientists and professors in Europe, and among Russian doctors and the general public. It is Sklifosovsky who is credited with introducing the principles of antiseptics into the practice of domestic surgeons, and later asepsis (disinfection with the help of physical means).
In general, the importance of Nikolai Vasilievich in the history of Russian surgery is very great. His exceptional talent, tireless studies in the operating room, section, on the battlefield, in domestic and foreign clinics, in libraries eventually bore fruit. Nikolai Vasilievich brilliantly mastered the operative technique, many diseases that most doctors of those years could not cope with, he transferred to the category of curable ones, and even outstanding surgeons noted with reverence what Sklifosovsky had "golden hands". A number of unique operations carried out by him for the first time have become classic in world surgery. Surgical treatment of abdominal wall hernias, cerebral hernias, jaw and tongue cancer, cancer of the stomach, esophagus, larynx, goiter, surgical removal of ovaries, bladder stones, surgical treatment of gallbladder diseases. Even in the pre-antiseptic time, he was able to successfully carry out such serious operations as the removal of the ovary, which was not done by many of the largest clinics in Europe. Nikolai Vasilyevich devoted a lot of effort to the development of methods of operations on bones, blood vessels, urogenital organs, joints, organs of the chest and abdominal cavities, the treatment of congenital defects, for example, clefts of the hard palate, and deformities of the limbs. For the first time, he performed free graft replacement for a congenital defect of the vertebral arches. And his osteoplastic surgery to connect bone fragments in case of defects of long bones and pseudoarthrosis forever entered all Russian and foreign textbooks under the name "Russian Castle" or "Sklifosovsky Castle". Also, an outstanding Russian doctor became a pioneer of operations in maxillofacial surgery, especially with significant facial defects. He was the first to use local anesthesia with a solution of cocaine, made an apparatus for maintaining anesthesia, and with its help performed a rare operation - truncation of the upper jaw halves.
Sklifosovsky paid special attention to operations performed on various organs of the abdominal cavity. To eliminate the negative effects of irritations arising during the operation on the abdominal organs, Nikolai Vasilyevich developed a number of practical recommendations that have retained their importance to this day. Among them, the first are measures to prevent the development of toxemia (blood poisoning with bacterial toxins) and on the temperature regime of the operating room. The merit of Nikolai Vasilievich was also the appearance in surgical practice (since 1898) of X-ray studies. And the legendary doctor became the “father” of Russian dentistry and the founder of scientific dentistry - the surgeon was an excellent diagnostician, theorist and “operator” of the new science. He scrupulously described all his research and operations on paper. Sklifosovsky is the author of 114 scientific papers reflecting the innovative ideas and personal experience of an outstanding doctor and have become a valuable contribution to the treasury of world science.
The organizational measures proposed by the outstanding physician are also interesting. Sklifosovsky developed his own methods of care, in which the main role was played: maintaining the morale of patients and organizing feeding. Before him, in many clinics, especially for the poor, they rarely operated on, limited to amputations, and the opening of abscesses and leaks. The chambers looked like real gas chambers. Nikolai Vasilievich was one of the first to start putting things in order in medical institutions. Probably the only surgeon of that time after Pirogov, he consistently introduced antiseptics into practice, introduced the hot treatment of medical linen, dressings and instruments in a device with heated air specially invented by him. Sklifosovsky also ordered before the operation to carefully process the hands of the surgeon and his assistants, to use surgical instruments with nickel-plated and smooth surfaces and change them during the operation, to use gauze, cotton wool, irrigators (devices for washing cavities and wounds). He prescribed dressings only to doctors, and to burn dirty dressings immediately. The doctor's attitude to patients is also interesting - Nikolai Vasilievich had the ability to instantly win over the patient to himself, to cause him a feeling of endless trust and faith in medicine. Sklifosovsky did not tolerate any liberties or rudeness in relation to patients and a strict business atmosphere always reigned in his clinics.
The discoveries made in the field of surgery required a reorganization of the teaching of medical education. His rich experience allowed Nikolai Vasilyevich to find shortcomings in the training of young cadres and to structure his lectures accordingly, choosing the most instructive examples from practice. In addition to reading the theory, Sklifosovsky paid much attention to practical exercises with students, held in operating rooms, dressing rooms, at the beds of patients. He strove to personally show both the technique of complex operations and the performance of simple surgical procedures. The students admired his masterful techniques for operating in hard-to-reach areas. During the operation, he always recommended that students remember two rules: "The first is to cut only what you see or feel quite clearly, and the second is to do any section based on the knowledge of anatomy." Instructing students on the rules of patient care, Nikolai Vasilievich always emphasized the importance of preserving the patient's psyche from unnecessary worries. At the end of such training, students were prepared for independent medical practice. During the period of Sklifosovsky's work in Moscow, the number of doctors graduated has increased significantly, and many outstanding practical and scientific figures in the field of surgery have graduated from the residency - Yakovlev, Spizharny, Dobrotvorsky, Sarychev and many others.
Nikolai Vasilyevich himself, with his dedication and dedication, won not only All-Russian glory. He was known and loved all over the world: for his honesty, for objectivity in scientific work, for his modesty and intelligence. Under no circumstances did Sklifosovsky change his gentlemanly rules, no one saw him flushed or lost his temper. At the same time, it is known that he was an addictive and emotional person. Even the first operation, carried out, as was customary at that time, without chloroform anesthesia, had such a powerful effect on the young student of Sklifosovsky that he lost consciousness. Nikolai Vasilyevich's interests were also quite extensive - he adored music, literature, painting. His wife, Sofya Alexandrovna, by the way, was a laureate of the international music competition of the Vienna Conservatory, and his daughter Olga studied with Nikolai Rubinstein. The Sklifosovskys were often visited by the artist Vasily Vereshchagin, the lawyer Anatoly Koni and the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The great doctor was friends with Sergei Botkin, stayed up until late at night with the composer and at the same time professor of chemistry Alexander Borodin, met with Alexei Tolstoy. In the summer, Nikolai Vasilyevich went to rest at his estate in Poltava. It stood on the banks of the Vorskla River, and every day, regardless of the weather, Sklifosovsky went swimming. By the way, he swam all year round both in St. Petersburg and in Moscow. In winter, an ice-hole was made especially for him, and every morning the doctor plunged into ice-cold water.
While resting on his estate, Nikolai Vasilyevich did not know how to live the life of a vacationer, while away the days over a cup of tea in conversations with neighbors. Every day, Sklifosovsky received patients at his home, traveled around the farms and distributed medicines, took delivery. Often (an amazing fact!) I even paid extra for sick people. Writing a prescription for a poor man, giving him money for potions and pills was the norm for the legendary doctor. Residents from the surrounding villages, who had never dreamed of a paramedic before, came in droves towards him. Sklifosovsky performed operations of varying degrees of complexity in the Poltava Zemsky Hospital.
In 1893, Nikolai Vasilyevich returned to St. Petersburg and took the place of director of the Clinical Elepinsky Institute for Advanced Medical Studies, at the same time heading the surgical department there. By the way, having received a new appointment, Sklifosovsky hesitated for a long time with the move - a huge school of students and assistants remained in Moscow. But, no matter how difficult it was for him, the famous doctor decided to head the institute, in which it was not to teach students the basics of medicine, but to train doctors and doctors of the highest qualifications who come here from all over Russia. Nikolai Vasilievich set to work with ardor. For seven years of managing the Institute, Sklifosovsky built new buildings and electrified them, rebuilt operating rooms in accordance with the latest requirements of aseptic surgery, knocked out funds not only for construction, but also for an increase in salaries and staff, installed the first X-ray room in our country, almost doubled doubled the institution's government subsidies. The Institute turned into an institution that all of Europe could be proud of. It is not surprising that on the day of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his professorship, among the hundreds of telegrams received by Nikolai Vasilyevich, one of Lausanne said: "You are the head of an institution that other peoples of Europe envy." And in another message it was said: "From the chilled hand of the famous Pirogov, you raised the banner of the teacher of surgery and carry it high in front of numerous associates and students."
As a true scientist, Nikolai Vasilyevich attached great importance to the exchange of observations and experience among surgeons. He was the founder of the Society of Russian Physicians, the founder and chairman of the first and sixth congresses of surgeons in the country, organizer, chairman and participant of the Pirogov congresses. Also Nikolai Vasilievich was an honorary member of twenty different societies of doctors in Russia and was an ardent supporter of women's education. Thanks to his participation, at the Medical-Surgical Academy, women's courses for midwives were opened, in which women could receive higher medical education. Sklifosovsky's immense talent as a public figure and organizer manifested itself in the preparation and conduct of the 12th International Congress of Surgeons, held in Moscow in August 1897 and attracted a large number of participants. On the eve of the opening of the congress, a grand opening of the monument to Nikolai Pirogov, the first who strengthened the position of domestic surgery as an independent discipline, took place. This monument appeared only thanks to the energy and initiative of Nikolai Vasilyevich, who personally obtained the "highest permission" for the installation of the monument and was built with private donations collected by him, and not with government funds. By the way, in Russia it was the first monument to the great doctor. In the presence of major medical workers from all over Europe, Sklifosovsky said at the opening of the monument: “The gathering of Russian land is now over, and the time of childhood, cultural borrowing and imitation has passed. We entered the rut of an independent life. We have our own science, our own literature and art, in all fields of culture we have become active and independent. ... The people who had their own Pirogov have the right to be proud, because a whole era of medical science is associated with this name. "
Nikolai Vasilievich, who was elected president of the congress, was well aware of the enormous scientific and political significance of the international congress of doctors, who had gathered for the first time in Russia. This meeting demonstrated the significance and strength of Russian science to the entire scientific world. Foreign doctors were able to see with their own eyes the achievements of our medicine. The myth of their alleged superiority over Russian doctors was finally dispelled. Being a true patriot, Nikolai Vasilyevich staunchly defended at the congress the rights of our doctors, whose merits were often forgotten. In particular, he managed to defend the priority of the authorship of the doctor Vladimirov over the German surgeon Mikulich in inventing a new method of osteoplastic surgery on the foot, which was initially performed only under the name of a foreigner. The feeling of admiration experienced by the participants from the organization and holding of the congress can be seen from the speech of thanks by the German scientist Rudolf Virchow, who addressed Sklifosovsky on behalf of the congress: “We found here a president whose authority is recognized by representatives of all areas of medical science, a person who knows all the requirements of medical practice and possessing a spirit of brotherhood and a sense of love for humanity ... Finally, here we met young people, smart and strong, prepared for the progress of the future, the hope of this valiant and great nation. "
In 1901, due to his age (he was sixty-sixth year old) Sklifosovsky retired and moved to his Yakovtsy estate in the Poltava province, where he lived the last years of his life. The doctor divided his leisure time between activities in the garden (he adored gardening) and the study of new books on medicine and surgical journals "Chronicle of Russian Surgeons" and "Surgical Chronicle" - the editor and founder of which he was, spending large sums from his personal funds on their publication. Several apoplectic strokes put an end to the life of an outstanding doctor - on December 13, 1904, at one in the morning, he died. Sklifosovsky was buried in a place memorable for the whole of Russia, where the Battle of Poltava took place. At the same time, another congress of Russian surgeons was held in Moscow. The news of the death of Nikolai Vasilyevich darkened his discovery. "Died, no doubt, one of the most outstanding doctors of our Fatherland, whose name is in second place after the famous Pirogov," - said at the congress.
Unfortunately, the life of the great doctor's relatives turned out to be tragic. Nikolai Vasilyevich often tormented himself with reproaches that he saw little of his growing children. He often called them his earthly immortality. However, his son Boris died in infancy, Konstantin did not live to be seventeen due to kidney tuberculosis, Nicholas was killed in the Japanese war soon after his father's death, Vladimir died in his student years, and Alexander disappeared during the Civil War. The youngest daughter Tamara and the elderly widow Sofya Alexandrovna were brutally murdered by bandits in 1919 in their own home. Of all the children of the great surgeon, only the eldest daughter Olga survived to old age. She married the famous doctor and student of Sklifosovsky - Mikhail Yakovlev.
For services to the Fatherland in 1923, the Soviet government assigned the name of Sklifosovsky to the Moscow Institute of Emergency Medicine, based on the basis of one of the oldest metropolitan hospitals - Sheremetevskaya. Within its walls, assistance was provided to the wounded during the Patriotic War of 1812, the Russo-Turkish War, the Sevastopol Campaign, the Russo-Japanese War and during the days of the workers' uprising in December 1905. The Institute is considered the successor to the development of Sklifosovsky's postulates in the field of military field surgery and in the training of surgeons wide profile. The principles of organizing assistance to the wounded, laid down by Pirogov and Sklifosovsky, were in demand during the Great Patriotic War and were implemented in practice by the staff of the institute.
In the seventies of the last century, a monument was erected on the grave of Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky, on which the inscription was carved in Russian and Latin: "Shining to others, I burn myself."
Based on the book by V.V. Kovanov "Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky" and the site http://nplit.ru.
- Doctors of the past
Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky - an outstanding Russian doctor and a man with a tragic fate, was an ardent follower of the ideas of N.I. Pirogov and a representative of the paternal traditions of healing (1836-1904)
Sklifosovsky NIKOLAY VASILIEVICH
PUBLICATIONS IN MEDICAL JOURNALS ABOUT N.V. SKLIFOSOVSKY
April 6 (old style - March 25) was born outstanding surgeon and scientist, professor Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky... He saved thousands of lives, working as a military field surgeon, introduced the revolutionary principles of antisepsis and asepsis 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 ... Outstanding scientist and surgeon Childhood and the youth of the future scientist passed in poverty and hardship. 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 a large family. Therefore, the parents were forced to send several children, including Nikolai, to the Odessa orphanage.
Despite the difficult living conditions and the lack of attention and care of loved ones, Nikolai graduated from high school with a silver medal and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University "on state 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 an intern in the surgical department. At the age of 27, he already defended his doctoral dissertation.
Sklifosovsky became a member of several military campaigns - he worked in the field hospitals of the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars, visited the fronts of the Balkan and Russian-Turkish wars. They had to operate around the clock, under 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 at a high temperature in the operating room, having breathed in carbolic acid, ether, iodoform for several hours, he came home with a terrible headache, from which he got rid of by drinking a little a 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 the disinfection of surgical instruments, operating fields and medical clothing, and developed the Sklifosovsky castle, which made it possible to unite crushed bones. Thanks to his method, the cases of postoperative infections and complications were almost completely excluded, the mortality rate decreased significantly. The operations performed by Sklifosovsky for the first time have become classic in world surgery.
At the same time, the scientist's innovative developments were at first questioned and criticized by colleagues. So, professor I. Korzhenevsky, ironically spoke at a lecture about a new method of disinfection: "Isn't it funny that such a large person like Sklifosovsky is afraid of such small creations as bacteria, which he does not even see!"
However, all these hardships and professional difficulties will seem only minor troubles compared to the troubles that Sklifosovsky had to endure in his personal life. At 24, his wife Lisa died of typhus, leaving three children. After some time, the surgeon married a second time. His chosen one was the governess Sophia, who understood him perfectly, supported him in everything and accompanied him everywhere, was engaged in raising children and housework. She gave her husband four more children.
The fate of Sklifosovsky's wife and children was tragic. Not a single child lived a long and happy life: his 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 that 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 an old acquaintance and fearing the condemnation of the "comrades", Vladimir committed suicide. The death of his third son finally knocked Sklifosovsky down. He left medicine, went to his Yakovtsy estate in the Poltava province and took up gardening. He survived 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 Yakivtsi 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 repression would not apply to the Sklifosovsky family (after all, he received the rank of general for his medical activities on the battlefields), executed the paralyzed widow of the surgeon and his daughter Tamara. They hacked Sophia with shovels, and hanged Tamara in the courtyard of the house. And in 1923 the Soviet government gave the name of Sklifosovsky to the Moscow Institute of Emergency Medicine. Research Institute of Emergency Medicine N.V. Sklifosovsky.
This man made a huge contribution to the development of medicine, developed methods of treatment and diagnosis, raised a generation of excellent doctors who continued to develop his ideas. Now the name of Sklifosovsky (doctor, scientist, leader) has become a household name. There are even sarcastic ways of using it, and this is already a sign of popular recognition.
Doctor of Medicine Nikolai Sklifosovsky in the nineteenth century was a representative of the medical elite of the Russian Empire in the world community. His textbooks, scientific works, patents for inventions were very popular both at home and abroad. Studying the history of medicine, it is important to know the biography of the pillars of medical science, since their experience helps to educate new generations of Asclepius' adepts.
Historical cut
The era in which Nikolai Vasilyevich had to live and work was rich in events. The tsars amended the laws, the country was in a fever from constant reforms and changes. Not everyone agreed with them, even if in the long term everything should have turned out in the best way.
The active work of the doctor Sklifosovsky coincided with the abolition of serfdom, the Stolypin reforms, the emergence of the ideas of Marxism and socialism and, of course, the ever-increasing development of capitalist relations in the Russian Empire.
Unfortunately, all the changes made did not find support among the general population and were received with hostility. In addition, a large number of soldiers who devastated the country fall into this period. The tsarist government did not want to change along with the people, which made it unpopular and brought the time of the coup closer.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky was born in a small farm located near the town of Dubossary, located in the Kherson province. This event took place on March 25 (or April 6, old style), 1836. The father of the future doctor was an impoverished nobleman, Vasily Pavlovich Sklifosovsky, who worked as a clerk for the Dubossary quarantine service. If now you ask to show on the map where Sklifosovsky was born, then no one will be able to do this, since the farm was absorbed by the rapidly growing city and was lost between its districts.
His family was large - only twelve children, so the boy was sent to an orphanage to be raised. It was difficult for the parents to support so many offspring, so the older children were sent to boarding schools for training, where the state dressed them, fed them and provided them with housing. The boy learned early what loneliness and orphanhood are. The only joy was the craving for knowledge, especially for the natural sciences, history, literature and foreign languages. Soon he set himself a goal - to get out of poverty, and for this he had to study even harder.
After graduating from the gymnasium, Sklifosovsky left for Moscow and entered Moscow University at the recently opened medical faculty. It is within the walls of his alma mater that he understands that he wants to devote his whole life to surgery. After the final exams, the young doctor returns home and starts work in But this does not satisfy him. And a few years later he decides to move to Odessa, where Nikolai Vasilyevich is offered to head the surgical department in the city hospital.
Sklifosovsky devoted all his free time to science and the development of surgical skills. Such perseverance helped him in just three years to defend his doctoral dissertation on the topic of operating oncological patients.
Trip abroad
Three years later, in 1866, at the age of thirty, a young scientist, a successful physician Sklifosovsky leaves for a long trip abroad. During this time, he manages to work in several European countries - Germany, England and France. There he meets with other surgical schools, studies new methods of treatment and organization of medical care, adopts the experience of senior colleagues in the workshop.
His journey began with the Pathological Institute Virchow and the clinic of Professor Langenbeck, which are located in Germany. He was involved there as a military doctor, worked in the infirmary and at dressing points. Then he went to France, where he studied with Professor Clomart and trained at the Nelaton clinic. The business trip to the UK ended with Professor Simpson.
In the course of his studies, Sklifosovsky pays attention to new methods of processing the surgeon's instruments and sterilization of the operating field, which have not been previously performed in Russia. At that time, doctors were of the opinion that disinfecting yourself and everything around you before the operation is not only not necessary, but even harmful. At that time, Lister's work was too revolutionary, and not every doctor was ready to take them into service.
Work in the capital
Doctor Sklifosovsky returns to his homeland in 1868, inspired and filled with new progressive ideas. He publishes a series of articles and textbooks on the knowledge gained in Europe. It bears fruit. In 1870 Nikolai Vasilyevich was invited to work at the Department of Surgery at Kiev University.
But his scientific activity does not stop there. He continues to deliver reports, drawing attention to his revolutionary ideas and trying to integrate them into Russian reality. His method of disinfecting medical instruments was ahead of its time and was considered one of the first in the empire.
At this moment, the Austro-Prussian war begins, and Sklifosovsky volunteered for the front as a field doctor. After the truce, he returns to Odessa, but he fails to live there. After a short period of time, a conflict flared up between France and Germany, and the professor again went to the front. And again he returns, but not home, but to St. Petersburg to teach at the Medical-Surgical Academy and train young military doctors.
The quiet period lasts only five years. Then Professor Sklifosovsky again leaves, first for the Balkan, and then for the Russian-Turkish war, where he meets Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov. But, in addition to working as an ordinary surgeon, Nikolai Vasilyevich also had to perform administrative work as a consultant to the Red Cross. Sometimes he did not manage to rest for several days in a row to help everyone who needed him.
Teaching
Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky returns to Moscow after the signing of the peace treaty. There he is offered the position of head of a surgical clinic to combine with teaching at the university. It was a bold decision, since the hospital he was to deal with was in a very poor state.
Fortunately, any business the professor took on flourished under his leadership. Therefore, the clinic soon became one of the best in the country, and then in Europe. He installed autoclaves and dry heat ovens in it for processing instruments and linen of surgeons. This made it possible to minimize complications after surgery and blood poisoning, which were not uncommon in those days. Serious illnesses, such as sepsis, were defeated by the efforts of Sklifosovsky.
He always tried to bring a creative thread into his work, develop himself and transfer knowledge to his students, if they have such a desire.
last years of life
Sklifosovsky's biography is replete with interesting events, but the last years of his life were rather gloomy. Due to a stroke, he had to leave his post of professor at the university, transfer the clinic to the care of a receiver and retire to his estate near Poltava. There he underwent rehabilitation, restored motor skills, and subsequently began to practice gardening.
Unfortunately, the light period was short-lived, and Nikolai Vasilyevich died soon after. It happened on November 30 (or December 13 according to the old style), 1904. He was buried in the village of Yakovtsy, not far from the place where the battle with the Swedes took place in 1709.
Contribution to science and medicine
It is difficult to imagine how many useful innovations have appeared in domestic medicine thanks to Sklifosovsky. His biography is replete with adventures of varying degrees of danger: here and internships abroad, and participation in all the wars of Europe at that time, and life in several cities of the empire. He tried to analyze all this amazing experience and use it for the benefit of his patients and colleagues.
Lister's method of sterilization, which Sklifosovsky brought from a business trip, divided surgery into two large periods: before and after the application of knowledge about asepsis and antiseptics. Before that, patients died from various septic complications: phlegmon, gangrene, sepsis and others, but with the introduction of the idea that the doctor's instruments and hands should be clean, the number of deaths decreased significantly.
Thanks to the development of military field surgery, the range of medical interventions has expanded, since general anesthesia has been introduced into ordinary practice. This made it possible to increase the duration of operations and improve the technique of their implementation. Sklifosovsky was the first to perform a laparotomy (opening of the abdominal cavity) for therapeutic purposes, and the patient survived. For the level of medicine at that time, it was a great risk and a great success.
Doctor's modesty and curiosities
Despite all the achievements of Nikolai Sklifosovsky, when he was a green first-year student, he fainted at the very first operation, as far as he was struck by the sight of blood. But this did not stop the young man. He was able to overcome his fear and by the end of his studies he was considered one of the outstanding students. He was asked to take an exam for a doctorate.
The second case of loss of consciousness is also associated with surgery, but the reason for it is already diametrically opposite. The diligent student studied anatomy in unventilated sectional rooms for so long that one day he was found deeply swooning right next to a corpse.
The modesty with which Sklifosovsky lived and worked is also surprising. Immediately after graduating from the institute, he was offered the position of chief physician of the city hospital in Odessa, but refused, arguing that he wanted to gain more experience, and left to work as a zemstvo doctor, and then as a simple resident in this very hospital.
After a quarter of a century of his professional activity, Nikolai Vasilyevich will not celebrate his anniversary, he will ask not even to congratulate him on this date. But grateful patients, students and colleagues from different countries still sent him hundreds of letters and telegrams.
The doctor of all wars of his time
Military field surgery was significantly developed thanks to Pirogov and Sklifosovsky (who can be considered a student and successors of Nikolai Ivanovich). This happened because the young doctor was not indifferent to the fate of the people involved in the theater of operations. And he didn't care if they were his compatriots or not.
As a volunteer, he went to the front in 1866, 1870, 1876 and 1877. Four different wars gave Sklifosovsky invaluable experience, which he was able to apply not only in practice, but also to educate a generation of military doctors thanks to the opportunity to teach at the Medical Academy in St. Petersburg.
In addition, after working as a field surgeon, Nikolai Vasilyevich invented a new way of connecting damaged joints, called the "Russian castle".
The envy of fellow workers
As it often happens, having made a huge contribution to medicine, Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky acquired not only admirers and grateful patients, but also envious people. His career developed rapidly, he was at the forefront of science and tried to stand up for people and homeland more than for himself. But even such unselfishness does not always receive a response in the hearts of people.
On the path of a young and talented doctor, obstacles were constantly encountered, which history is silent about. The scientific community of that time did not really like Sklifosovsky and did not want to accept him into their ranks. When, after returning from the front, he began to run a clinic in St. Petersburg, many saw him as their rival. Getting a good job at such a young age was considered bad form then, and even more so to have a scientific degree.
The adherents of the old school actively denied Sklifosovsky's innovative ideas, criticized his methods and made fun of him. The famous surgeon of that time, Ippolit Korzhenevsky, in his lectures ironically spoke about the Lister method and argued that they were ridiculously afraid of creatures that a person could not see.
Death as his eternal companion
There were interesting facts in the life of Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky that were not related to his professional activities. As a doctor, he saved thousands of people from death, but she still followed on his heels. Not in the hospital, but at home. As soon as a young doctor gets married, the newly-made wife suddenly leaves this world, leaving three small children in his care. In order to give them a full-fledged family, Nikolai Vasilyevich remarried.
From the second marriage, four more children appear in the Sklifosovsky family, but three sons also die early: Boris in his earliest infancy, Konstantin at the age of 17 (from kidney tuberculosis), and the death of the elder Vladimir is connected with politics. Even in his student years, the young man began to get carried away with revolutionary ideas, so he joined an underground organization that was engaged in subversive activities. Wanting to check the new team member, he was given the task to kill the governor of Poltava, a close friend of the Sklifosovsky family. But the boy could not decide on such an act, so he decided to die himself, without waiting for a comradely court.
This is what caused Nikolai Vasilyevich's stroke. After the tragedy, he lived for several years as a recluse on his estate and soon died too. Unfortunately, two of his other sons were killed in the subsequent war, and after the Bolsheviks came to power, the professor's wife and daughter were shot as “members of the general's family,” although the government ordered not to touch the Sklifosovsky family.
The last surviving daughter Olga immediately after the appearance of the Land of the Soviets emigrated from Russia and never returned to her homeland.
ambulance named after N.V. Sklifosovsky in Moscow
"Sklif", as doctors kindly call it among themselves, is the largest center for the provision of emergency medical care in Russia today. It was founded in 1923 on the basis of a home for disabled and elderly people. The almshouse was built on the initiative of Count Sheremetyev and was named the Hospice House.
After the October Revolution, the hospital was suspended to reopen in 1919 as a city ambulance station. Four years later, after the reorganization, it was decided to open the Institute for Emergency Medicine and give it the name of Professor Sklifosovsky.
During the Great Patriotic War, Sklif worked as a military hospital, received severe wounded from all fronts, and was also engaged in scientific activities.
For 2017 at the Research Institute of the SP named after I. N.V. Sklifosovsky, there are more than forty clinical units, 800 doctors and scientists work here. More than seven thousand patients from all regions of the country are treated every year.
Sklifosovsky Nikolay VasilievichApril 6, 1836 - 12/13/1904
"You are at the head of an institution that the other peoples of Europe envy."Rudolf Virchow
The city of Dubossary owes its fame far beyond the borders of the region to many of its fellow countrymen, but first of all to Nikolai Vasilyevich Sklifosovsky.
You will rarely meet a person who does not know the name of this outstanding world-renowned surgeon. Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky - the most popular doctor of the second half of the 19th century, scientist, professor. Disciple and follower of the great N.I. Pirogov.
Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky was born on March 25 (April 6) 1836 on a farm near Dubossary. For some time it was called that - Sklifosovsky farm.
Over time, the city of Dubossary, extending to the south along the banks of the Dniester, "swallowed up" the farm. The Sklifosovsky house has not survived. Attempts to restore its exact location in the past have been unsuccessful. But perhaps it is symbolic that the first hospital in the city was opened precisely in 1836 - the year of the birth of the future great surgeon.
Nikolai Vasilyevich's father - a native of a poor noble family, was a minor official, served as a clerk for the Dubossary quarantine office. Meager funds were allocated for the maintenance of officials in the town hall. It should be noted that that period in the history of the city was marked by incredible poverty, frequent outbreaks of epidemics, and high infant mortality. According to the statistics of that time, it is known that out of 178 children born, 100 died before the age of one year.
Moscow Research Institute ambulance named after N.V. Sklifosovsky.
Monument to N.V. Sklifosovsky on the territory
Poltava Regional Clinical Hospital,
bearing his name.
USSR postage stamp 1961
To the 125th anniversary of the birth
N.V. Sklifosovsky.
Commemorative silver coin with a picture
N.V. Sklifosovsky.
The grave of N.V. Sklifosovsky in the village of Yakovtsy.
It was at such a difficult time that N.V. Sklifosovsky. The family had 12 children, Nikolai was the ninth child. Father could hardly make ends meet. We lived, literally, from hand to mouth. But honesty, conscientiousness, the fulfillment of one's duty was 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 children. The father himself taught them to read, introduced them to reading.
The need forced the parents to send some of their children to an orphanage in Odessa, where Nikolai was also brought up. Subsequently, he entered the 2nd Odessa gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal.
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. In 1854 N.V. Sklifosovsky entered Moscow University "on state support."
Having brilliantly completed his studies, Nikolai Vasilyevich returned to Odessa in 1859, where he worked in a city hospital for 11 years. But his first independent experience, albeit very short-lived, Sklifosovsky received in Dubossary. Sklifosovsky's track record contains the following entry: “On the way from Moscow through Dubossary, at the suggestion of the head of the Kherson province, due to the illness of the local doctor, he acted as his duties in the city hospital and the city from August 23 to September 8, 1859. "
Simultaneously with his work in the Odessa hospital, Nikolai Vasilyevich was preparing his doctoral dissertation and successfully defended it in 1863 in Kharkov.
From 1866 to 1868 he was on a scientific business trip abroad. Sklifosovsky was trained by the famous German surgeon, professor B. Lengerbek, the founder of one of the largest surgical schools in Europe; from the German pathologist R. Virchow; from the French surgeon and urologist O. Nepaton; from the Scottish obstetrician and surgeon D. Simpson.
In 1870, Sklifosovsky was already a professor, heading the department in Kiev. And from next year he heads the surgical department of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. After 10 years, he was elected to the department of the faculty clinic at Moscow University. He worked as the dean of the medical faculty.
Of great interest is the full service record compiled on March 7, 1905, stored in the Central State Military Historical Archive of Russia in Moscow. This document contains biographical material about the work of an outstanding surgeon in Odessa, Kiev, Petersburg, Moscow and his participation in the Austro-Prussian 1866 Franco-Prussian 1870 Slavic-Turkish 1876. and the Russian-Turkish 1877-1878. wars as an ordinary surgeon and hospital consultant.
The experience of four wars turned him into a major military field scientist-surgeon and opened in him the talent of an administrator and organizer of military-sanitary affairs. His scientific works on military field surgery are a valuable contribution to the treasury of world science.
The name of Sklifosovsky is associated with the active introduction of new antiseptic methods into surgical practice, he was the author of original methods of surgical treatment: he was one of the first to operate on the gallbladder, and developed a technique for the surgical treatment of cerebral hernias and goiter. An outstanding innovation was the operation of joining the bones in the pseudoarthrosis of the hip and shoulder, which was named "Sklifosovsky Castle" or "Russian Castle".
Sklifosovsky belonged to the progressive part of the Russian intelligentsia. He was an ardent advocate of women's medical education, as well as a supporter of universal education in Russia.
Great is his contribution to the organization and construction of new university surgical clinics in Moscow on Devichye Pole. He was the founder of the Society of Russian Physicians named after N.I. Pirogov, an active member of the Moscow Surgical Society, initiator of the Pirogov Congresses of Physicians, President of the 12th International Congress of Physicians in Moscow. Being a person with advanced socio-political views and enormous erudition, a great patriot of his homeland, N.V. Sklifosovsky with great dignity represented Russian medicine at international congresses, proving that Russian medicine not only did not lag behind the West, but also went ahead. Sklifosovsky was the editor of the journals "Surgical Chronicle" and "Chronicle of Russian Surgery".
In 1893, for the first time in Russia, Nikolai Vasilyevich organized and headed the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies in St. Petersburg. As its director, he turned the institute into one of the best institutions in Europe at that time.
In 1900, due to a serious illness, Nikolai Vasilyevich moved to his estate Yakovtsy near Poltava, where he spent the last years of his life in obscurity.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of N.V. Sklifosovsky great surgeon, citizen, person. Nikolai Vasilievich was a man whose energy contemporaries never ceased to amaze. “We are honoring a man,” wrote a group of Russian doctors, “who, with his entire life, proved that by a doctor he meant not just an artisan of healing and not an athlete of a biologist, but a true minister of the commandments of the“ mother of all sciences, ”who prescribes the doctor to be an assistant and comforter suffering, guardian of neighbors from suffering. A friend of the people, a friend of humanity, fulfilling his unique duty. "
On June 23, 1923, on the day of the 5th anniversary of Soviet medicine, the jubilee commission adopted a resolution, in accordance with which the Sheremetyevo hospital in Moscow was renamed the N.V. Sklifosovsky. In Poltava, a monument to Sklifosovsky was erected, over which students of the medical institute patronize. In the city of Odessa, the city hospital has survived, where N.V. Sklifosovsky, the building of the 2nd male gymnasium, where he studied, survived.
In Dubossary, the homeland of an outstanding scientist and doctor, one of the streets is named after N.V. Sklifosovsky.
G. Kiselev, Art. Researcher of the Dubossary Museum of History and Local Lore,
excellent cultural worker of the MSSR.
History - links to the topic
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