The Impact Of World War II On Medicine

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.

The role of Australian nurses in World War ll was extremely important and without their presence both at the front and at home the death rate of Australian soldiers would have been much higher. Never before in a war were women expected to be at risk as much as the men. They should be acknowledged along with the men who served. World War ll used many more ways to harm people. World War ll involved nuclear power and warfare, genocide, submarines, tanks and was fought in many places/country’s including air, land and the ocean. 1

Nursing now has more task and duties compare to nurses during the 1900s. Not only because

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

December 7, 1941 a date that will forever be remembered in American history, was the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. The air in the country after the attack was that of patriotism and determination to defend the nation. America’s involvement in World War II had a profound effect on the profession of nursing. In the time frame of the war nursing saw influences and changes take place within the creation of the National Nursing Council for War, the shortage in nurses, the expansion of nursing practice used while in flight, the view of African Americans serving their country, and the post-war affects of nursing when the war ended.

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

These early nurses were quickly educated on the rigors of war and the primitive accommodations. Hundreds of women lasted little more than a month and for those that did last the work became gratifying and their Christian mission. At the bloodiest moments of the war, nurses braved heat of moment and offered selflessly to treat injured. These ladies

It hasn’t changed that the average person doesn’t like to feel pain or be ill. The evolution of medicine from 1776 to 1938 in the United States depended on the knowledge of current diseases and treatment at that time. The major diseases during this time were pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.1 Ironically, much of those diseases still exist today. Over time, the world’s demand for drugs for any type of illness or disease drastically skyrocketed. Was the medicine really working or were people psyched into believing they had an illness? The diagnosis and treatment was incorrect many times, resulting in “shoulda, coulda, and wouldas” when dealing with diagnosis and medicine. Without a scientific basis, medical doctors, such as Benjamin Rush were ineffective with proper treatment, and quacks promoted strange treatments as to say: Yackedy Quack, Don’t Talk Back. By the end of the 20th Century, one could say American medicine was on the rise and researchers and physician were much more respected.

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.

Due to the advancements from the Industrial Revolution, weapons were more deadly and injuries were more severe. The Civil War had the most United States casualties than any other war, so women naturally became highly involved in the war effort. This meant that nursing shifted from a job to a necessity during the war. The common duties of a nurse included many tasks such as tending to patients’ wounds, cleaning the hospital, and comforting soldiers (Currie 48). Many times the women were not trained beforehand and this led to many mistakes due to inexperience and unpreparedness for the gruesome injuries and illnesses within the hospitals (49). However, women were drawn to become nurses for many reasons including staying involved in the war effort and a higher wage of $12 a month

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

One of the medical improvements during World War Il was penicillin. We also had a

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.

1) Discuss two scientific advances that occurred and how they changed the role of nursing?

In the 1940’s during World War II is when the functional nursing model became popular. This model was vastly used due to a shortage of nurses during the great war in the United States. To provide care for the battle wounded soldiers, there was a large influx of nurses who joined the armed forces. In addition,