How Medical Evacuation Evolved from Post Civil War to Present
1st Historical Interest Timeline: 1877 to 1910
Medical advances during this period were more in organization and technique and not in medical breakthroughs. Jonathan Letterman is credited with creating a highly organized system of ambulances and trained stretcher bearers that were designed to evacuate the wounded quickly. This was a great improvement from the previous methods. It was also during this period that sanitary conditions for medical care were improved upon. Previously surgeons did not wash their hand before attending to a patient and their equipment was not sanitized. This resulted in the number of deaths occurring from medical care increasing and the mortality rate was two soldiers died out of disease and infections as compared to one who died from injury or gunshot wound in the battlefield. Organized trauma care was also suggested and practiced in the late 19th century. In the past priority of care for a patient depended on their rank, the surgeon\'s best guess, or the order of arrival (Hawk, Calhoun, & Andersen, 2009). However, with the use a triage system, patients were evaluated on their needs and the seriously wounded would receive first attention regardless of their rank. This would be followed by those with less serious injuries.
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The unprecedented mass casualties of World War 1, there were terrific strains created on the medical units. With the advent of motorized transport, it was possible to have medical units following the soldiers 6 to 9 miles behind the front lines. The motorized units comprised of surgeons, nurses, and anesthetics. There was a complete turnaround from the handling of casualties with the emphasis now being given to helping more people in the shortest time. This meant that cases that required a great deal of time were less prioritized and cases that take less time given first priority. This was aimed at ensuring that the greatest number of soldiers were able to return to the battlefield. Air ambulances were developed and operated during this period. This resulted in the air evacuation of injured soldiers to medical facilities. However, the patient was enclosed in the fuselage without anyone attending to them during flight (Hawk et al., 2009).
3rd Historical Interest Timeline: 1941 to 1970
There were considerable improvements in medical evacuation technology and organization especially the….....
Gawande, A. (2004). Casualties of war—military care for the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan. New England Journal of Medicine, 351(24), 2471-2475.
Hawk, A., Calhoun, J. H., & Andersen, R. C. (2009). Treatment of War Wounds: A Historical Review. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 467(8), 2168.
Katoch, R., & Rajagopalan, S. (2010). Warfare injuries: History, triage, transport and field hospital setup in the armed forces. Medical Journal Armed Forces India, 66(4), 304-308.
Mabry, R. L., Apodaca, A., Penrod, J., Orman, J. A., Gerhardt, R. T., & Dorlac, W. C. (2012). Impact of critical care–trained flight paramedics on casualty survival during helicopter evacuation in the current war in Afghanistan. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 73(2), S32-S37.
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