Medicene

• Medicine Revision Periods

  • Medieval
  • Renaissance
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Modern
• Key people by time period

  • Hippocrates
  • Galen
  • Andreas Vesalius
  • Amboise Pare
  • William Harvey
  • Thomas Sydenham
  • Louis Pasteur
  • Robert Koch
  • Florence Nightingale
  • Edward Jenner
  • Joseph Lister
  • James Simpson
  • John Snow
  • Edwin Chadwick
  • Watson and Crick
  • Aneurin Bevan
  • Alexander Fleming
  • Florey and Chain
• Types of illness or wounds soldiers would suffer from

  • Pneumonia
  • Trench foot
  • Spread of lice
  • Colds
  • Infections
  • Shrapnel wounds
  • Bullet wounds
• Trench Fever (Pyrexia)


  Symptoms: severe headaches, shivering, pain the bones and joints, relapsing fever- keeps coming back.

  Treatments: month or more in hospital

  Causes and spread: lice- not scientifically proven until 1918 but suspected by 1915, most men had lice in the trenches.

  Prevention: disinfect clothing, bathhouses, louse repellent, steam disinfection.

  Impact: reduced the number of men available to fight
• NYD.N (Not Yet Diagnosed. Nervous)- Shell Shock


  Symptoms: psychological problems, 'nervousness'.

  Treatments: rest, food, talks to calm soldiers down, keep in touch with front line.

  Causes and spread: psychological reactions to danger or explosions.

  Prevention: words 'shell shock' not be used.

  Impact: some hospitals developed specialist treatment centres, feared it would be contagious, 80000 recorded cases
• Evacuation Route


  • Stretcher Bearers
  • Regimental Aid Post
  • Field Ambulance and Dressing Station
  • Casualty Clearing Station
  • Base Hospital
  • Front Line
• Wounds and Infection


  Solution 1- Carrel Dakin method: a system of tubes to keep the chemical solutions flowing through the wound to fight off infection, effective as a continuous attack on the bacteria, reduced the number of amputations from infection. Problems: conditions on the front line made aseptic surgery impossible, surgeons had to return to antiseptic methods but this was not enough to stop Gas Gangrene. Solution 2- Extensive surgery: removed the damaged or destroyed tissue around the wound site, did not sew up the wounds straight away, kept them open so antiseptic chemicals could kill off any lingering bacteria
• Broken Bones


  Solution- Thomas Splint: invented by a surgeon, pulled the leg lengthways, stopping the bones grinding together, and reduced blood loss. This meant that by the time the soldiers reached the CCS, they were well enough to be operated on as they had not lost too much blood. Problems: soldiers who had their femur broken died in huge numbers, only had simple splints to use which did not stop broken ends of the bone grinding on each other
• Blood transfusion


  Problems: Landsteiner had shown blood could be transfused safely from one person to another, but the donor and patient had to remain connected as there was no way to store the blood without it clotting. Solution 1: sodium citrate could be added to blood to prevent clotting, meaning blood could be stored. Solution 2: citrate glucose solution could be added to the blood which would allow it to be stored for several days in refrigerated conditions after collection, leading to the first blood banks. Solution 3: a portable machine for storing blood which could be used to take blood closer to the Front Line of fighting
• Plastic Surgery


  Problems: the terrible wounds inflicted on the Front Line, caused by shrapnel and bullet damage, especially to the head and face, gave more of a need to plastic surgery. Solutions: surgeons had to try new ideas due to the number of head injuries, use of skin grafts were developed, surgeons carried out 11000 plastic surgery operations, increasing their experience and learning from each other, Harold Gillies became known as the 'father of plastic surgery'
• Brain Surgery


  Problems: many soldiers suffering serious head injuries, little surgery had been carried out on the brain before 1914 and relatively little was known about how the brain worked, so brain surgery was very risky. Solutions: surgeons had to get creative, developed new techniques and improved their skills through dealing with large numbers of head wounds, use of X-Rays meant that surgeons were able to locate, identify and remove bullet and shell fragments, surgeon Harvey Cushing invented a surgical magnet to extract bullets from head wounds