Essay about Medical Advancements During World War Two

For decades, America has fought in many different wars with the need of health assistance for their soldiers. The American Red Cross is a worldwide organization that helped during the times of war but also provided a path for scientific advancements. Through the American Red Cross and other organizations of this time, they opened up the doors for women to take the chance to advance in the medical field by participating in scientific experiments and being at the aide of wounded soldiers. During this time of scrutiny, the Great War was a hidden opportunity for the encroachment of medical research with the contribution to the expansion of nursing.

New discoveries spawn more medical research in medical colleges. In 1910, Abraham Flexner of the Carnegie Foundation publishes his study on medical education, and induces major medical education reform. Medical knowledge flourishes and specialists account for 20% of physicians in 1940. Hospitals begin to embellish new medical technology as physicians relied on the hospital as a source of access to new technology and as a facility in which to care for their sickest patients. (Writer, Dominguez, 2011, 2-6)

The Civil War was a time of great learning in the medical field. Without these advances, we would live in a completely different world. The question is though, would the same amount of medical supplies and knowledge in both the North or South have changed the eventual outcome of the Civil War? Similar circumstances in medicine would have only affected the mortality rates of both sides, not the outcome of the Civil War. Almost all odds were against the South from the very beginning. It was just a matter of time from the very start.

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

Why was the invention of penicillin so important in the context of WWII? What were some other advances in medicine that were

Medicine has always been improving throughout the years, but the 1940s were one of the most critical times of how medicine is still practiced today. There were a lot of medical advancements in the 1940s. New antibiotics were discovered, new medical practices helped in the war effort, tests and organizations set up to help find problems in health or health care.

During the Civil War, they had to have many medicines, operations, and surgeries done to themselves or others in order to survive (Jenny Goellnitz, Paragraph 1). Some of these medicines we still use today. Medical technology and scientific knowledge have changed dramatically since the Civil War, but the basic principles of military health care remain the same. The deadliest thing that faced the Civil War soldier was disease. For every soldier who died in battle, two died from disease.

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.

     When Walt Whitman wrote that he believed the “real war” would never get into the books, this is the side he was talking about (Belferman 1996). Yet, it is important that we remember and recall the medical side of the conflict too, as horrible and terrifying as it was (Adams 1952). Long before doctors and people knew anything about bacteria and what caused disease was the time of Civil War medicine. Doctors during the Civil War (always referred to as “surgeons”) were incredibly unprepared. Most surgeons had as little as two years of medical school because very few pursued further education. At that time, Harvard Medical School did not even own a single stethoscope or

The civil war was a long hard fought battle that left many people injured and deceased. Throughout this war America started seeing a major need for doctors and medical personnel. Medicine was on high demand and the importance of the american doctors and nurses was very high. Medical technology was limited during the 19th century, but the doctors and nurses worked hard to expand their knowledge and learn more about treatments.

Medicine played a big role in the Civil War, it took care of the conflicts with the soldiers, infectious diseases, and if surgery was needed. Amputations was a big surgery if any soldier got shot or if anyone had a deadly disease. There were diseases that were fatal, common, or rare. Doctors in this time were always trying to improve their medical tools and technology.

Medicine has been developed and discovered for thousands of years; however, the 1920’s was the first decade that fashioned a pathway for new developments and discoveries. Medical professionals have taken a huge hit for their fight in finding new inventions that can save patients from death’s hands. In the 1920’s, medicine has also taken a tremendous leap in controlling fatal diseases such as diabetes (Pendergast 110). Medicine in the 1920’s has altered the way medicine is shaped today; furthermore, the development and discovery of the iron lung, penicillin, and insulin were the first pertinent breakthroughs in medical history (“Iron” par. 7; Grimsley par. 15; “Banting” par. 13).

     Penicillin has helped save many lives throughout the years. It has cured things like strep throat, which many people have had in their lives, syphilis, and gonorrhea. It also sparked a new wave of

Diseases did not only affect the soldiers in a tremendous way. As I will discuss in greater detail further in this paper, diseases gave an advantage to the Northern side of the war, and this played a role in their victory. Additionally, the treatments and discoveries that were made as diseases were treated led

In World War One diseases were one of the biggest problem for the solders due to lack of hygiene, medical assistance and little medicine. The most common diseases that the soldiers faced in the war were influenza, typhoid, trench foot, trench fever, malaria, dysentery and diabetes. These disease were caused by soldiers being exposed to cold, wet, windy and damp conditions.