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Pirogov's Influence On The Crimean War

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Crimean War Essay

Assess the influence of the Crimean war on the development of modern medicine and triage

Introduction
As medical historian Fielding Garrison said, “Of all recorded wars, the Crimean has perhaps the greatest teaching value for military medicine”. Historically, early historians of medicine were reluctant to study military medicine due to fears of endorsing militarism and therefore were focused on the public and mental health sectors. This only changed with the integration of military medical practices into civilian life, ceasing the divide between war and the rest of society and culture. The Crimean War was pivotal in both the environments and practices to develop the success of modern day medicine and triage.

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Alongside with his investigations into the causes and treatment of cholera, Pirogov’s influence has established a sound foundation for modern medicine to develop into the level of care we enjoy today. Although chloroform had been used as an anaesthetic since the 1830’s it was highly controversial due to risks involving excessive blood loss and death due to it’s depressive nature. Pirogov emphasised the vast positive implications of using anaesthetic in trauma cases. It was Pirogov’s belief that the administration of anaesthetic on arrival to the hospital kept the patient calm, henceforth delaying the onset of shock whilst allowing the surgeon to make a more balanced choice in which patient to attend to first and which could wait . According to Dr Marina Soroka, Pirogov blamed many deaths and complications on the chaotic accumulation of the wounded on the dressing tables. To prevent this he introduced the idea of immediate triage of the wounded to allow them to be distributed among the wards. This new organizational system allowed for the systematic and efficient provision of qualified surgical help by reducing the efforts and resources of doctors and nurses, always in short supply for those who need them in wartime. As triage requires considerable paramedical personnel close to the line of …show more content…

As a conservative Christian society, Britain was often reluctant to embrace new improvements and rather relied on traditional methods, which often proved detrimental. Although the Crimean War is often hailed as an example of bad organisation, it can actually be perceived as an example of great adaptations and flexibility within the medical corps. Britain was fighting a war far from home with little sanitary, medical and transport services. Their archaic approach to fighting one of the first modern wars was instrumental in their failures throughout the war. According to Jack Edward McCallum in his book Military Medicine: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century, British military surgeons regularly failed to accept well-documented improvements in their science, and the men whom they cared for payed the price. As a result of its abysmal performance in the Crimean war, the British medical service was entirely reformed in the subsequent decade. Such improvements included the use of anaesthesia in field surgery, especially the use of chloroform, which had been regularly used in surgery since the 1830’s, and the deployment of medical nurses to the field. Richard A Gabriel argues that the Russians use of ether as an anaesthetic in field surgery was a pivotal moment in military medicine, pioneering beyond the British who were slow to adopt this practice due to their conservative

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