Scientific Online Resource System

Social Medicine

Development of medical provision in relation to military conflicts

Maria Panteleeva, Hristiana Romanova

Abstract

Abstract Medical care during a military conflict depends on a variety of factors, from the number of doctors and nurses available to the climate and terrain on which they are fighting, the number of soldiers who need treatment, etc. Faced with many casualties during World War I and World War II, doctors and scientists developed a number of innovative techniques, tools and treatments.

We aim to present the progress of the medical provision due to military conflicts in this period. A thorough research on the topic is carried out using analysis, documentary and historical methods.

Ambulances, antiseptics and anesthesia - the three elements of medicine that are well-known today, appeared during the World War I. The use of lethal poisonous gas as a weapon of mass destruction required the application of decontamination. Casualty care is improving and death rates are decreasing, probably due to the improved medical provision system. The "Evacuation system", which historically replaced the earliest "Treatment in place" system, was in turn replaced by the "Treatment in stages" system introduced in 1916.

After the World War I, mass prosthetics of limbs of servicemen with amputations begins and an emphasis is placed on rehabilitation. World War II leads to the widespread use of penicillin, other antibacterial agents, morphine, the appearance of plastic surgery with a focus on facial reconstruction, and the development and refinement of blood and plasma transfusions. In conclusion, we can note that military conflicts give impetus mainly to the development of surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics and psychiatry.


Keywords

medical provision, military conflicts, development

Full Text


References

Hanc John, A Fleet of Taxis Did Not Really Save Paris From the Germans During World War I, Smithsonian magazine, July 24, 2014.

Романова Хр., ,,Защита и медицинска помощ при бедствени ситуации“, Варна 2012.

Ангелова Адриана, Военни действия. Откритията в медицината по време на войната, Курсова работа по МБС Варна, МУ, 2022.

Charles Van Way, III, War and Trauma: A History of Military Medicine - Part II, Mo Med. (Missouri Medicine) 2016 Sep-Oct; 113(5): 336–340.

Mayhew E. Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I. Oxford University Press; 2013

Colonel H W Orr, ‘The Use of the Thomas Splint’, In The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 20, No. 11 (August 1920) (2)

Lewisohn R. The citrate method of blood transfusion in children. Am J Med Sci 1915;150:886-9

F Boulton and D J Roberts, ‘Blood Transfusion At The Time Of The First World War – Practice And Promise At The Birth Of Transfusion Medicine’, in Transfusion Medicine.

Wintrobe MM. Blood, pure and eloquent; a story of discovery, of people and ideas. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. ISBN 0-07-071135-6.

Hedley-Whyte John, Debra R. Milamed, Blood and War, Ulster Med J. 2010 Sep;79(3):125-34. PMID: 22375087; PMCID: PMC3284718

Rous P. Turner JR. On the preservation in vitro of living erythrocytes. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1915;12:122-4

Rous P, Turner JR. A rapid and simple method of testing donors for transfusion. JAMA 1915;64(24):1980-2.

Coggeshall LT. Oswald Hope Robertson, June 2, 1886- March 23, 1966. Biog Mem Natl Acad Sci 1971;42:319-38

Дамянов М., Кратка история на психическата военна травма, 2020, https://chr.bg/istorii/voenni-hroniki/kratka-istoriya-na-psihicheskata-voenna-travma/

Дамянов М., Първият личностен тест се появява с взрив, 2021, https://chr.bg/istorii/tehno/parviyat-lichnosten-test-se-poyavyava-s-vzriv/

Van Way C 3rd. War and Trauma: A History of Military Medicine - Part II. Mo Med. 2016 Sep-Oct;113(5):336-340. PMID: 30228491; PMCID: PMC6139825.

Bull, S. (2014). Trench: a history of trench warfare on the western front. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Guyatt M. Better legs: artificial limbs for British veterans of the First World War. J Des Hist. 2001;14(4):307-25. doi: 10.1093/jdh/14.4.307. PMID: 20037959.

Първата световна война: американската полева медицина, 2017, https://history.framar.bg

Пакинян А., Медицинските открития, които промениха света, в-к „Дума“, бр.259, 08 Ноември 2014 https://duma.bg/meditsinskite-otkritiya-koito-promeniha-sveta-n89120

15 открития от Първата световна война, https://clubz.bg/75651-15_otkritiya_ot_parvata_svetovna_voyna_tsip_rachen_chasovnik_parashut

Иванова-Огнянова Б., Александър Флеминг - откривателят на пеницилина, https://www.puls.bg/liubopitno-c-70/aleksandr-fleming-otkrivateliat-na-penitsilina-n-35301; 13 август 2019

Hampton Ellen, How World War I Revolutionized Medicine, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/world-war-i-medicine/517656/ February 24, 2017




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14748/sm.v30i2.9566

Refbacks

Font Size


|