Scottish Steel and Irish Fire
Thursday, 02 May 2024
Room 402, Suttie Centre
SCOTTISH STEEL AND IRISH FIRE:
Lessons for today’s doctors from the history of the birth of iv fluid therapy in Edinburgh in 1832
2 May 2024
Dr Liam Plant MB BSc FRCPI FRCPE, Consultant Renal Physician and Clinical Senior Lecturer in Nephrology, Cork University Hospital.
In 1832, the second of the great cholera pandemics swept through the British and Irish islands, bringing fear, social dislocation and high mortality. Medical treatments were archaic, irrational and ineffective. But two young doctors, William O’Shaughnessy and Thomas Latta, one Irish and one Scottish, responded to this challenge in an innovative fashion and introduced intravenous fluid therapy to the practice of Medicine. This is their story, with reflections on how the doctors of today could do well to emulate them.
Liam Plant graduated in Physiology (1982) and Medicine (1985) from University College Cork and is now the current President of the Irish Nephrology Society.
General Professional Training in Medicine in Cork; Higher Specialist Training in Nephrology in Scotland. Consultant Renal Physician in the Department of Renal Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1996 -2001; Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medicine at The Edinburgh University Medical School 1998-2001. Currently Consultant Renal Physician at Cork University Hospital and Clinical Professor in Renal Medicine at University College Cork Medical School.
Clinical & Research interests include: Patients with End Stage Kidney Disease and their multi-modality lifelong management; Disorders of & Management of Fluid & Electrolyte Balance; Renal Disease in Pregnancy; Renal Disease in Cystic Fibrosis; Adolescent Transition; Quality of Life in Kidney Disease; Ethical Aspects of Kidney Disease; Organisation and Development of Renal Services.
Formerly: National Specialty Director for Nephrology Training in Ireland (2002-05); Chair of Irish National Renal Strategy Review (2003-09); National Clinical Director of the HSE National Renal Office (NRO) (2009-18). Currently: South Intern Network Director, South Intern Network; Council Member & Censor, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
https://ie.linkedin.com/in/liam-plant-59a1503a
Notes
A recording of the talk is available.