How Did World War II Affect Surgical Procedures

World War I was a war of innovation with new artillery and tactics, but also a deadly war in which approximately ten million soldiers died in or injuries sustained from battle. As injuries increased throughout the war, the need for medical assistance was constantly growing. Surgery is considered an art and like art, it evolved and new techniques were developed, making an injury that could kill someone survivable. For instance, in the Civil War most surgeons would immediately amputate and in World War I surgeons began trying much harder to save limbs. Blood transfusion allowed surgeons to reduce patient death from blood loss because of the ample supply of blood from fellow soldiers. Sanitation improvements led to fewer deaths from infection

During any war, medical advancements are commonly made in response to the atrocities that take place during these bloody and gruesome times. World War II is no exception. During World War II, medical advances simply had to be made to keep soldiers alive. With all the victims of bullet wounds and diseases spreading around, treatments had to be invented or advanced. I chose this topic because science and medicine is very fascinating to me and I want to become a doctor when I grow up. During the war, penicillin, sulfanilamide, atabrine, plasma, and morphine were used in abundance and saved a countless number of lives.

The medical staff were big heroes in the war. Amputation was the most common type of surgery during the civil war. The surgeons were known as “butchers.” Over the course of the war, the federal army did about 30,000 amputations. However if soldiers were shot in the head, chest, or stomach, the surgeons didn't even bother with them because it was very likely they would die.

World War I had affected the health of many soldiers coming back from the war. To begin with many soldiers came home with tuberculosis. The disease spread rapidly in 1920 due to the unsanitary, urbanized conditions of the cities which was similar to that of the trenches. “The close proximity of people in wartime conditions meant diseases such as tuberculosis could easily spread” (Science Museum). In addition, many soldiers that returned home had lost limbs in the war due to trench foot. “Some conditions such as trench foot, an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions” (Science Museum). Trench foot affected soldiers who wished to go back to work, because most jobs wouldn’t allow handicapped workers to work; however,

Imagine going through all the pain in surgery and infections. Medicine during the Civil War can be compared to today’s medicine. For instance the surgical instruments, infections, where surgeries took place and where they take place now, sanitized and unsanitized tools and equipment. Today’s infections have changed greatly over time due to the change in sanitary conditions and the equipments surgeons use today.

While most people generally categorize war as a deathly arena consisting of gunfire, the stench of rotten corpses, and the cries of trauma of soldiers; war can be seen as a time for prosperity and growth in the medical profession. The lack of resources in battlefield hospitals, cause people to believe that treatment options are limited. However, history has shown that these limited resources provide an outlet for creativity and exploration, the seeds to advances in the medical profession. During the American Revolution, more casualties were due to illness as opposed to gunshot wounds, opening up the eyes of medical professionals that new ways for disease prevention were needed. Additionally, before World War II biomedical research was limited

The American Civil War was a gruesome war. Brother against brother fighting with one another. Over five hundred men lost their lives fighting in one of the nations biggest, bloodiest battles. Obviously, the leading factor in deaths during the Civil War was wounded soldiers. Limbs were being shattered and wounds were becoming infected and spreading through out the body. Even though the Civil War was a gruesome battle, many lifesaving procedures were born. Because of the high medical need during the American Civil War, necessary advances such as medical inventions, lifesaving procedures; and reconstructive surgery established the foundation for our current medical methods

The old battlefield technique of trying to save limbs with doses of TLC and wound-cleaning rats and maggots quickly fell out of favor during the Civil War. There were too many soldiers getting wounded, and war surgeons quickly discovered that the most efficient way to stop deadly infections was amputate them. Amputation saved more lives than any other wartime medical procedure. War surgeons lost only about 25 percent of their patients—compared to a 75 percent mortality rate among similarly injured civilians at the time.

Even through the Civil War was very bloody and gruesome, there were some positive effects on America’s medicine. This may include medicine in the pharmacy, performing surgerys, and Prosthetics. During the war the most injuries were resulting in amputation because soldiers were shot by “Minie Ball” bullets which would shatter bones and limbs.(pbs.com) Anesthesia was commonly used during surgeries. The top two types of Anesthesia was Chloroform and Ether.

Q8. During World War I, scientists were beginning to develop new drugs and medical treatments in order to help people during and after the war. Scientists began making these new medical drugs in order to help those physically and mentally cope with pain and or stress brought on because of what the war had caused. Some people had been changed, harmed, or were badly hurt physically in the war, the new medical drugs would be able to help with that. However, many other people were affected psychologically. Henceforth, scientists began developing all sorts of medical drugs in order to help those who had been badly affected in any way, shape, or form because due to the fallout World War I had brought upon the world. In other words new medical treatments and inventions had been developed during and after World War I to improve the health and overall well being of the people around the world.

World War I was one of the bloodiest wars causing more than three hundred thousand casualties and out of those, one hundred twenty thousand of them resulted in death. Medical techniques had hardly improved from the Civil War,

Throughout history there were many gruesome and extensive wars that took place, like in the American Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War 1 and World War II. The medical procedures from the Revolutionary War to World War II have dramatically changed from what they knew then to what they knew of during World War II. For example, the Revolutionary war lacked so much knowledge about healing the wounded most died from infected wounds, in comparison to number of deaths in World War II little to none died from noncritical treated wounds. Another example, is the different anesthetics that were used throughout all these wars that helped treated different pains. Within these wars mentioned played major roles in the development of different medical techniques, procedures, and treatment.

An abundant of things came out from the war. Some things were, advancements in pain management, an improved modern ambulance system, the field of plastics and reconstruction exploded and with that a new treatment was developed to treat nerve injuries and chronic pain which began the contemporary neurology. Injuries that resulted in an amputation are now a x-ray and the setting of the bone. One surgeon named Jonathan Letterman revolutionized they way of how to respond and act to medical emergencies from war bombing to a heart attack at the mall. The same principle he created are still used today just instead of horses and carriages there is helicopters and jets. In numerous ways the face of medicine has changed; the drugs now available, the knowledge of disease and bacteria and how emergencies are handled have all drastically changed for the

Without the medical treatment created during World War I, the nine million casualties of war could have doubled. The army’s Nurse Corps and doctors saved millions of lives by both creating an operative path of treatment and by inventing new cures. Organizations like the Red Cross and the Nurse Corps and first created a an series of medical stations to ensure that all soldiers would get the best care possible. Captain Oswald H. Robertson created the first blood bank as well as anticoagulants and the the syringe blood transfusion technique. Antiseptics were also put into use for the first time during World War I. One of the most widespread treatments created was therapy, which was made to cure those affected with shell shock.

World War Two, a harsh period of time in the 1930s-1940s, filled with controversial arguments, political battles, fights to the death, but most importantly, medical advancements. Did you know that without the research and discoveries made during World War Two, our medical programs would probably be lacking the information we have today? It’s very true, and in my opinion, the war strengthened our medical abilities, and it really put our world to the test. New medicine had been discovered, while old medicine had been improved; horrible medical experiments performed by the Nazis occurred during this time; but most importantly, World War Two has affected our medical programs that we have presently. These