Why Did Medical Care Change During The First World War?
How did Medical Care change during the First World War?
First World War presented medicine with many challenges. The number of wounded men was increasing every day and the need of medical specialists and innovations as well. Millions of people who could have been saved died. The war had effects on people and their minds that lasted till the end of their lives. Medicine and medical care had to be improved in order to save lives and live further. There were different problems and solutions to them were found. Various innovations were made that helped people and still are used in modern life.
Health Problems
Firstly, hygiene became an ever present issue. Soldiers fought, ate, slept washed and relieved in narrow trenches surrounded by dead, …show more content…
Several discoveries caused this. In 1914 researchers found out that sodium citrate prevented blood from clotting. The next year, Richard Lewisohn found a safe concentration at which citrated blood might be transfused. “As this blood could also be kept in cold places for several days its effectiveness in war was clear. Traditional person-to-person transfusions were not always practicable. Instead blood could be collected, citrated, stored in bottles and transported to where it was needed. It was not until 1917 when it was first proved of its worth at the large base hospitals. Preserved blood was used at a Casualty Clearing Station in November that year.” ("Medicine at War." Making the Modern World. Science Museum, 2004) This provided new opportunities to save lives. Rather than waste time when wounded men arrived taking blood from donors, a ready supply was now available. By storing blood in advance the first Blood Depot (lately called the Blood Bank) was created. War helped discover the importance of blood transfusion, but this advance did not immediately transfer to civilian life. Although voluntary blood donations began in London in the early 1920s, the first blood banks did not appear until the late 1930s. Surgeons preferred to use fresh blood because of unusual conditions of
First World War presented medicine with many challenges. The number of wounded men was increasing every day and the need of medical specialists and innovations as well. Millions of people who could have been saved died. The war had effects on people and their minds that lasted till the end of their lives. Medicine and medical care had to be improved in order to save lives and live further. There were different problems and solutions to them were found. Various innovations were made that helped people and still are used in modern life.
Health Problems
Firstly, hygiene became an ever present issue. Soldiers fought, ate, slept washed and relieved in narrow trenches surrounded by dead, …show more content…
Several discoveries caused this. In 1914 researchers found out that sodium citrate prevented blood from clotting. The next year, Richard Lewisohn found a safe concentration at which citrated blood might be transfused. “As this blood could also be kept in cold places for several days its effectiveness in war was clear. Traditional person-to-person transfusions were not always practicable. Instead blood could be collected, citrated, stored in bottles and transported to where it was needed. It was not until 1917 when it was first proved of its worth at the large base hospitals. Preserved blood was used at a Casualty Clearing Station in November that year.” ("Medicine at War." Making the Modern World. Science Museum, 2004) This provided new opportunities to save lives. Rather than waste time when wounded men arrived taking blood from donors, a ready supply was now available. By storing blood in advance the first Blood Depot (lately called the Blood Bank) was created. War helped discover the importance of blood transfusion, but this advance did not immediately transfer to civilian life. Although voluntary blood donations began in London in the early 1920s, the first blood banks did not appear until the late 1930s. Surgeons preferred to use fresh blood because of unusual conditions of