Prolific effects of civil war on medicine - Research Paper Example

Prolific effects of civil war on medicine Introduction Many people hold the notion that the American civil war took place during the medical middle ages, this is not correct. During the war, scientists, doctors, and civilians contributed to the establishment of medicine into modern field. Developments and improvement were made to hospitals including development of stretchers and ambulances as efficient mode of transporting sick and wounded people. In addition, women contributed a lot in the fields of sanitations and nutrition as they established their place as female nurses. Surgery was made possible by new techniques, which motivated surgeons and doctors to try new procedures. The discipline of pharmacology was established due to rising demand in medicines during wartime. The American civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865 in the United States of America. During this time, people had little knowledge about what caused diseases and other illnesses, how to treat it, or even how to stop it. Medical techniques used at that time ranged from primitive or barbaric to the barely competent. According to statistics from National Museum on civil war (2000), soldier’s chances of surviving were minimal about one in four. These wounded soldiers were cared for by unqualified, untrained, understaffed, and undersupplied medical team. However, working hard against all odds to survive the horrors of the war, medical officers improved their skills and techniques, increased in size and gained better comprehension of disease and medicine every year the war was fought. The Federal and confederate armies did their best to ensure that their soldiers were well taken care of despite the numerous challenges they faced. Period prior to war During the time prior to civil war, medical personnel’s received minimal training. Even those doctors who had attended medical institutions were poorly trained. This is because in America, medical students received only two years or less of training, gained no clinical or laboratory training experience due to lack of instructions. When civil war began in 1861, the army had only 98 medical doctors, and confederacy had 24. The army recruits received only physical examination giving room for soldiers to enter the federal army camp with physical defects and chronic illnesses that would affect their performance at the battlefield as soldiers. The newly recruited soldiers were sent to large camp to gain skills and learn how to become soldiers. The first challenge they faced was disease even healthy soldiers were affected by illnesses that easily spread due to large concentration of people in the camp. In addition, the spread of these diseases was aided by poor diet of soldiers and unsanitary conditions in the camps which led to many people succumb to diseases such dysentery and diarrhea. Of the 500,000 soldiers who perished during the civil war, majority of them died from diseases not bullets or bayonets. According to statistics given by Shryock on his website (1962), they represent the real and grave statistics of deaths and wounds incurred by the soldiers in the Civil War and how medical doctors dealt with these numbers. During the battle of Gettysburg, the Union medical corps was armed with 1,000 ambulances, 650 officers, and 3,000 drivers but within 3 days, 21,000 soldiers were wounded. This left each surgeon with 900 patients that they were individually responsible for. According to Shryock report on its website (1962), these incredibly large numbers led to many amputations due to infections. This professional medical historian, one of the first of his kind, explores the fact that medical professionals of the 1860’s did not have a good understanding of bacteria. Since then, ‘cumulative experience’ of those doctors led to the improvement of techniques in medicine. Shryock gives a reflection of how severe the wounds of the Civil War were and how medical professionals used what they had available to treat them under great stress. This assisted in turning medicine into the progressive field that it is today. Development of Ambulances and stretchers During the time when the war began, there was no developed system of transport to ferry wounded soldiers from battlefield to the hospitals or clinical centers. In the wake of 1862, a medical director of the army of the Potomac called Jonathan Letterman invented system of stretchers and ambulances made to rescue and evacuate wounded soldiers as fast as possible. The confederate army also adopted this program. The Letterman invention remains the modern system of military rescue or evacuation to this day. The ambulance system has gained popularity in today’s medical professional because it was regarded as one of the most efficient and immediate innovation during wartime. The ambulance system developed and designed during the civil war by American represents modern medical emergency system. In addition, veterinary medicine was very vital because mules and Horses used to ferry military personnel’s to the war front. There was need to treat these animals from diseases so that transportation of soldiers could not be halted. The battlefield or field Hospitals They were situated close to the war zone. The primary care was done at battlefield hospitals before being transported to field hospitals. Medical officers bandaged wounds and administered morphine to relief pain and while whiskey was applied to relief shock. At this station, some soldiers were treated and returned to the battlefield but those who could not return, were transported to field hospital using stretcher and ambulances. Many federal and confederate soldiers died of wounds received in war. Enormous effort was made to cure the soldiers within 48 hours. Mostly, primary care was done at the battlefield hospital situated behind the front lines. Those who did not succumb to wounds were transported by overcrowded and unreliable ambulances to army hospitals situated in the nearby towns and cities (Flannery, 2004 p.66-68). The impact of the ammunitions on body tissue was enormous and fatal. In addition, these bullets carried germs and dirt in the wounds, which led to infections. Some soldiers were severely wounded in that they required amputation for them to survive. Those soldiers who were transported to the army hospital were grouped into three categories; severely wounded, slightly wounded and surgical cases. Mostly, amputation of soldiers was carried out at army hospitals. During surgeries, surgeons used chloroform and ether as an anesthetic. Most surgeons knew the relationship between cleanliness and infection of diseases, but sadly, they had little knowledge on how to sterilize their surgical equipments. Doctors did not wash their equipments and hands due to shortage of water thus transmitting germs from one patient to another as they cured or treated them. During this time, new surgical procedures were included in operation of wounds. Such techniques were used in the chest and hernias wound repair. Surgeons were able to seal chest wounds of the soldiers. With continued advancement and improvement of this technique, it was used during world war one and two and its aspect remain essential in today’s’ surgery. Rise of Pavilion hospitals Before the civil war, there was no clear system of hospitalization known in America. Due to the rising number of large wounded, injured, and sick people needing long-term assistance and care, a series of general hospitals was established in both the North and South. They first started by using existing buildings as hospitals but with time armies constructed large hospitals that were efficient, clean and well- ventilated. Surgeons, hospital stewards, male nurses, matrons, female nurses, and people from civil associations all participated to ensure that great care was administered to people who were wounded and sick. The quality of medical care on patients improved drastically after the war began and mortality rate was low. These hospitals were equipped with thousands of beds in different rooms and modified in a manner that patients with similar ailments could be admitted in a single room or ward under the care of nurses and surgeons. This helped in prevention of rapid spread of infectious diseases-a modern way gaining popularity in modern medical professionals. Civil war medicine Flannery (2004, p. 35) shows what illnesses Civil War soldiers died from and how doctors treated these illnesses using exact examples of medical techniques that were used of that time. Most soldiers died from disease during the Civil War rather than battle-related injuries. In fact, only 8% of soldiers were ever treated for battle-related injuries. Out of every thousand soldiers: 711 died of dysentery, 584 died from camp fevers, 261 died from respiratory ailments and 252 died of digestive disorders. To assist in the hindrance of these wildly spreading diseases, surgeons came up with their own version of natural remedies to subside infection. They used vegetable-based and mineral-based powders, pills, lozenges, and elixirs. Flannery (2004, p. 59) claims that surgical fevers were present in both the armies especially after surgery. Civil war doctors and surgeons used iodine and carbonic acids as disinfectants. Other commonly used disinfectants at time were sodium hypochlorite and mercury biochlorite. In most cases, during operation anesthetics were used in easing the pain. The rise of public health movement Before the Civil War, medical professionals spoke very vague on precautions to take during outbreak of illnesses and diseases. This led to the general population forming Public Health Movements in the form of sanitary conventions in order to improve the conditions of their communities and prevent these illnesses from spreading. Once the Civil War began, these Public Health Movements followed the volunteer armies teaching sanitation knowledge to soldiers. In addition, doctors were advised to write articles on importance of sanitation, which the public read and became conscious on the need to remain clean (Kramer, 1948 p.45-52). Specifically the newly proved theory that typhoid could be transmitted by contaminated water, the importance of hygiene and heavy emphasis on proper diet was elucidated to all military personnel and held to high regard. Kramer (1948, p. 57) states that this movement introduced women into the Civil War. Another new theme to war medicine was the support of women in the hospitals. Women had earned their voice in public affairs such as the public health movement through their participation in Civil War activities and could now comfortably ‘fit’ into war society. Women played vital role during wartime as they operated in the battlefield hospitals and army camps to provide efficient sanitation. In addition, they worked as cooks to make sure that soldiers received well balanced diet. Preservation of soldiers’ bodies Preservation of dead bodies was not common in United States of America before the outbreak of the war. National Museum on Civil war medicine (2000) states on its website that embalming technology was used during the war to preserve the bodies of the dead soldiers in preparation for their transportation back home. Most embalmers were doctors, pharmacists, and surgeons with information or knowledge on chemical compounds. They closely followed the soldiers in the war fields, railroad stations and in hospitals. It is said about 15,000 to 30,000 soldiers were embalmed during the war. As an aftermath of this procedure, the technology of embalming bodies became rampant and widely accepted after the civil war. Conclusion Summarily, many of the solutions during that time were homegrown from natural resources, the need for medicines during wartime led to establishment and growth of medical and pharmaceutical industry and the starting of modern day largest pharmaceutical industry. The works of civilians, scientists, and physicians during the civil war improved the medical appliances to both civilians and soldiers. This in turn, has led to emergence of America as the world leader in healthcare and science. Bibliography Kramer D. Howard. 1948. “Effect of the Civil War on the Public Health Movement,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol. 35, No. 3 (Dec. 1948), pp. 449-462, accessed November 13 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1897696. Flannery Michael. 2004. Civil war Pharmacy: A history of drugs, drug supply and provision, and therapeutics for the Union and Confederacy. New York: Infroma Healthcare. “National Museum of Civil War Medicine. 2000. Civil War Medicine Current Exhibit, accessed November 13, 2011 from http://www.civilwarmed.org/museum/exhibits/ Shryock H. Richard. 1962. “A Medical Perspective on the Civil War,” American Quarterly Vol. 14, No. 2, Part 1, pp. 161-173, accessed November 13 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710639. 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