Nursing And Medicine During World War I

Nurses faced great danger in hospitals because they were a breeding ground for disease. They were extremely over crowded, especially after a large battle, and because of these conditions, illnesses were spread very easily. Typhoid, malaria, and dysentery were the biggest diseases. Typhoid was the worst. One of the poorer facilities was named the “Hurly Burly House.” The patients here were enlisted men. Better quarters were reserved for sick and wounded officers. Most of the hospitals had bad ventilation, no provisions for bathing, and no dead house. Some of them had decaying wood and old carpets that were not removed. Kitchens and washrooms were described as “cold, damp, dirty, and full of vile odors from wounds.” The nurses quarters were not much better. Nurses would often work from 6am to 1am. These miserable accommodations combined with overworked and under qualified staff made hospital conditions adverse to patient welfare and therefore unsuitable for either dispensing or receiving treatment. The Sanitary Commission finally investigated and recommended

The lack of space required many places to be converted into temporary triage locations. Triage is a quick way to streamline examination and get serious cases handled first. Another issue was moving bedridden patients after their surgeries because of the narrow hatchways and doorways. The amount of patients required another ship to be dispatched to accommodate the patients. The lack of supplies and the variations of injuries caused continuous problems for surgeons, especially those who were becoming extremely fatigued. A common issue was that the extent of injuries could not have been determined completely until the patient was on the operating table. For example patients who were referred to as D and B in the report took the constant attention and the former succumbed to his injuries after two hours. the latter survived after given saline, but still needed constant attention. Another example is an unnamed patient who was not examined for over forty hours, had developed large maggots in his wounds. Unlike modern operating rooms, supplies could not be set up according to procedure. Because of the time required to properly sanitize blankets, many soldiers were without one. (Darby)

The diseases that most affected the soldiers,while they were fighting for a cause in the trenches were,Trench Foot,The Trench Influenza and Shell Shock.

The diseases soldiers tended to face were small pox, measles, mumps, dysentery, and so on. The list is endless. Dysentery was by far the most lethal during the Civil War (Civil War Diseases 1). There was a 75% chance that if a soldier was injured, an amputation would occur (Civil War Medicine 1). This led to a tremendous death toll due to the bacteria into the wound. There were plentiful reasons as why a soldier contracted these diseases other than a gunshot wound. These reasons included, poor physical upon entering the army, the doctors lack of knowledge when it came to medical information, terrible hygiene, disease causing parasites, and lack of the basic necessities for survival. As you can see, this is a recipe for failure and death. For example, in order to

These military hospitals were prone for infectious diseases that was detrimental to their health. Soldiers would come off the battlefield with “measles, smallpox, typhoid, and malaria” the list goes on. It was easy for nurse to contract these disease because the military hospital were so overcrowded and had poor ventilation. Military nurses did not let that stop them from taking care of soldiers. Women would work all hours of the night making sure the wounded and ill soldiers had the best care. It was their duty to see after the soldiers and they were proud of

These female nurses provided medical help for the wounded soldiers at Gallipoli and also on the Western Front. As most of the hospital stations were near the front line many nurses were exposed to aerial bombs and shelling. They were expected to work in primitive conditions; some hospitals were equipped for a mere 520 people yet held 2500 during the wartime. As a result of the long hours and poor conditions many nurses suffered serious illnesses. A total of 2139 Australian nurses served overseas and of these 25 died. Through enduring such adverse conditions nurses proved extreme dedication towards the war effort and their country.

Nurses were very key in the war especially in World War Two. The numbers and the role of the nurses during World War Two became more important than ever. At the beginning of the war there was a large shortage of nurses to help with less than seven thousand volunteering. More women began to join, but not just anyone could serve. The women had to meet certain standards. To serve a woman had to be a citizen of the U.S, a registered nurse, and between the ages of 21 and 40. She also had to be checkout by the military to make sure she was healthy enough. She also couldn’t have children that were under the age of 14. During other wars women didn’t have any training, but this changed when 1943 rolled around. From that point nurses had to go through training on sanitation, psychiatry, and even physical training to make sure they could survive the tough conditions. Nurses also had to put up medical facilities if they needed to. Women had to go through all of this training because, they began to work closer to the front lines than they had ever had to before. The nurses were so close to fighting that they had to be able to come up with solutions fast and make decisions that could save or take a life. Nurses also had to learn how to use guns in case the time arose that they needed them. During the war some of the nurses wanted to go farther than just being a field nurse, so they would go to extra training to become flight nurses. Because nurses were so close to the front lines, and they had extra training, they were better able to serve their country and their soldiers when they need help (“Nursing and Medicine During World War

The soldiers undertook many different diseases and sicknesses, mentally and physically. The faced outbreaks of measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, or camp itch. Soldiers would get malaria when camping in damp areas surrounded by mosquitos, while camp

With many soldiers dying from disease on the battlefield, the help of medical advances decreased the mortality rate of all soldiers on both sides. Before the medical advances of the Civil War, many soldiers died from wounds and diseases on the battlefield. In fact, for every soldier that died on the battlefield, two soldiers would die of disease. These diseases included some that appeared on the Oregon Trail and the expansion out West, such as dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, and the dreaded malaria.

Civil War medicine had an overall, negative impact on soldiers during the American Civil War. During the Civil War, there were tragic experiences that happened to the soldiers, and some of them were for sure deadly. The soldiers dealt with outbreaks of measles, smallpox, malaria, pneumonia, or camp itch. Soldiers also came across malaria when in damp/wet areas which were likely to breeding mosquitoes.

The medical treatment in wars has changed very much over the years since the Civil war and WW2. The Civil war took place during 1861- 1865. Civil war medical treatment was not very sanitary they would give the soldiers whiskey as Anastasia when giving them amputations. WW2 was a big step from the civil war in sanitation and medical treatment. In WW2 the nurse would give morphine to the soldiers to make them sleepy(www.med-dept.com.)

One of the main diseases that were caused in WW1 was Wiel’s disease. Wiel’s disease was caused because of rats. This disease occurred in the trenches as a lack of hygiene. “Rats would produce 480 babies per year” (WW1- class 6, 2012) Soldiers would get this disease as there would be swamps of rats that would keep coming into the trenches therefor giving the soldiers “Wiel’s Disease”. The effect of this disease on the soldiers was mild flu like symptoms headaches and chills. However, this disease could also lead to organ failure and bleeding.

Many nurses stations and hospitals were attacked by opposing sides and younger nurses were terrified and could not continue nursing for the soldiers, other nurses in this situation were injured, many recovered but there are some accounts of nurses living after the war with breathing issues and limbs missing from attacks. Nurses also lived with shellshock after the war. Most of the cases were nurses not being able to sleep as they would still be able to hear gunshots and soldiers screaming for help and dreaming about excruciating injuries

In the beginning  of the civil war nurses helped the sick, wounded and infected with an unprofessional training or no training at all. In the start of the civil war many nurses were men and few were women but over time it began to change and women exiled by women volunteering to help the wounded. Nurses that were volunteering in the civil war had massive numbers of soldiers to attend to after the battles which they were gravely injured and many died from their wounds or from infection on the wounds that were not properly sanitized. The profession of nursing came a long way from where it began and nurses impacted the civil war with  helping to achieve more stable and professional conditions in the organization of hospitals, how they run and

There were several amounts of disease that inflicted troops and others through transmission. The ones that are more important in understanding how disease affected the war most was; the Spanish flu, trench foot, trench fever, typhoid fever. In a nutshell, Spanish flu is a virus that would attack the respiratory system. Trench foot is a condition that would occur if when in wet cold conditions in the trenches, that affected the foot of a soldier would, in the long run, result in an amputation. In the other hand, trench