Communication in the Middle Ages was difficult due to poor transport links, a lack of technology e.g. printing, and low literacy, so ideas about medicine spread slowly. Overall communication had a limited impact on the development of medicine.

Here are 3 main examples of the role that communication played:

• ❖ The works of Islamic doctors were translated and communicated to Europe through trade.
• ❖ Conditions were much better in monasteries because they had access to medical knowledge in books and people were more likely to be literate.
• ❖ Ibn Sina's book Canon of Medicine was printed in Europe over 60 times in the 1500s.