During the 19th century, there were also several medical developments. One of these was the improvement of hospitals, nursing and general cleaning methods prior and during the Crimean war. In a report published in 'The Times' about the conditions in Crimea during the Crimean war, William Russell revealed that too many people were dying from ill health. Florence Nightingale, rich, well educated and determined to be a nurse was appalled by the conditions of the army hospital and ships described in the report and felt strongly that soldiers shouldn't be dying from disease. The Crimean war gave her the chance to show her nursing skills and to make improvements in hospital care. When the secretary of war asked her to take control of the nursing at Scutari hospital, she agreed to lead 30 nurses, to the Crimea. She made enormous changes in the time that she was working there despite male doctors opposing 'interference' from women nurses. She scrubbed all the wards clean, opened all windows, set up facilities, put up screens for privacy of amputations, boiled sheets and towels so they were absolutely clean, provided good food, even hired builders to build a new refurbished ward block. The results were amazing; she reduced the fatalities from 42 % to 2%.
Nightingale would not have had the chance to make this change to the medical development if the Crimean war had not taken place. But like Paré, she had no idea about infections but her theory was that by using these clean methods she was getting rid of 'bad air'. So the infectious ligatures and the success of the cleaning methods were contributing to the discovery of infection, both of which were made aware to people because of the wars. Hence the wars were inspiring doctors to find correct treatments that worked and this lead to the discovery of infection later on. The wars during the renaissance inspired doctors to find less painful methods, painful surgery was common. The Crimean war however, used these less painful methods but inspired doctors to make these less painful methods work better i.e. by using improved cleaning methods and this lead towards the discovery of why these cleaning methods work i.e. they get rid of germs and minimize infection.
Nightingale's work during the war got her noticed by a lot of people - she became labeled a national heroine and raised a lot of money and set up a school of nursing to train nurses. However, she would not have been able to achieve this if there wasn't a war, since the main reason she got so much attention was because she was a war hero. Despite not being able to deal with bacteria and infection, since this was not discovered yet, her nursing and cleaning methods ensured number of casualties were down because it minimized the risk infection even though she had no knowledge of this. However, she had not made any new discoveries or added to the scientific knowledge of medicine. But her organization skills and the improvements in hospital care were a step towards fighting infection and disease. But if it wasn't for the awful and desperate conditions of the hospital during the Crimean war then Nightingale would not have got the chance to introduce her cleaning methods and the hospital improvements. Also, because the war brought people together and was a big deal in Britain the fact that her methods brought down the casualties during the war to 2% made her heroic. Because of her popularity as a result of the war, she was able to make further developments to medicine even after the war because people admired her and money raised by supporters during the war was used to fund these further developments.
The nursing school she set up using the money raised influenced every major hospital to set up training schools and follow her example. Also a result of the war nursing, nursing became a popular thing amongst girls. Nightingale's work during the war also set examples for the design of hospitals in Britain, fresh air, plenty of space, easy cleaning was her advice for new hospitals. But the key to all this medical success was when she started out i.e. in the Crimean war. It would have been difficult to make any changes or to get anyone to listen to her and follow her examples if the war had not taken place. Especially since she was a woman and women did not have any rights at that time. She would not have had money to fund a nursing school either since she wouldn't have had funds from supporters. Her books on nursing wouldn't have been published if it weren't for her experience of the war either.
It could be argued that she didn't make any scientific discoveries, but rather she just introduced new cleaning methods. However, the war hadn't hindered medical changes and the cleaning methods were a step towards the fight against infection inspiring later medical discoveries like antiseptic. Hence the Crimean war could be seen as a useful contribution in pushing for the improvement of medicine. Nightingale's cleaning methods were followed by the discovery of germs and antiseptic, but under the pressure of wars this was not enough as infected wounds were still common during the first world war. Also, the Crimean war lacked of medical technology and surgery was not that advanced, blood transfusions for example had been tried out numerous times but were often not successful. However, it inspired doctors to make new discoveries, mainly achieved in the urgency of the First World War.
The First World War had the most effect on the development of medicine. New weapons caused new injuries leading to new medical developments. It was a 'total' war', everybody was affected. Hence a lot of casualties during the war, giving surgeons the opportunity to experiment with new techniques. Surgeons working in battlefield hospitals had to find treatments to a wound quickly and worked together, for the sake of the war, which lead to these medical developments. The broken bones caused by the war lead to new medical techniques to repair them. Improvements in skin grafts formed the basis of plastic surgery later on. Head wounds were common leading to improvements of eye, ear, nose, throat, and advanced brain surgery as a result of experimentation on the numerous head wounds. During the war it was difficult to prevent a wound from being infected, a bullet carries infection into the body. Open wounds were also at risk of being infected by fragments of clothing that have bacteria. Through trial and error on the many wounds caused during the war, surgeons began to find solutions to infections. One of these was to cut off infected tissue and soak the wound in a saline solution, an improvement made due to the experimenting during wartime. But this wasn't fully successful. The suffering of soldiers inspired doctors to search for a better way of fighting infection. Fleming and many others were convinced a drug was needed after having observed the treatment of wounded soldiers. Fleming argued that antiseptics were not the answer. This inspired doctors to investigate infections and this lead to the discovery of penicillin by Fleming. However, only small quantities could be made.
Another medical development was the greater use of x-rays to improve the success of surgery when removing bullets and shrapnel and with it the risk of fatal infections. Despite x-rays being invented before the war, the war emphasized its importance in surgery as it was used to remove bullets and shrapnel, eliminating the risk of fatal infections. More x-ray machines were made to meet the needs of the surgeons during wartime. The increased use of x-rays during the war raised awareness of their importance. So the war improved surgery by the greater use of x-rays around the country, following the example of the surgeons of the wartime. Another medical improvement was the blood transfusions during the First World War. Blood transfusions had been tried out numerous times, but not always successful. Even when scientists made the discovery of blood groups in 1901 and that transfusion would work if the blood groups matched, it had to be performed on the spot. During the war, however on the spot donors were not practical because of the huge amounts of blood needed and many soldiers bled to death in the trenches because blood could not be supplied quickly. This inspired a search for a way to store blood for efficient transfusion, which resulted in the discovery that the liquid part of blood (plasma) could be separated from the tiny blood particles during wartime. Hence, the cells could be frozen in a bottle, stored until needed; in which case they were melted using a warm saline solution.
This discovery was very helpful in saving lives during the war and even after on an operating table and was mainly due to the fast demands of the war that brought scientists and doctors together to work in unison and find a solution quickly under the pressures of the war. If it wasn’t for the mass amounts of blood needed as a result of the war, doctors would have been satisfied with the on the spot donors and would not have felt the urgency of war to find a way of storing blood. However, it could be argued that eventually, doctors would have needed to find out this discovery since on the spot donors wouldn't always be successful. But the discovery was also due to the doctors working together and sharing ideas to help their own soldiers, unlikely to happen if there wasn’t a war. Otherwise, if there were peace, surgeons would work alone and often compete with other surgeons. There is also the fact that surgeons are willing to do more operations and prepared to work harder in wartime than in peacetime. Furthermore, wartime industry offers resources for the development of new surgical equipment. The low standard of health among soldiers in the first world war made the government worried about the general health and inspired them to speed up the process of getting rid of the unhealthy slum houses.
The wars played a big role in the development of medicine as I have now seen from the work of Paré, Florence Nightingale and all doctors during the First World War. Paré's discoveries as a result of the war and being inspired by the suffering he saw, encouraged other doctors to also investigate non-painful treatments hence anaesthetic was introduced. Nightingale was given the chance by the Crimean war to improve the cleanliness, bad conditions of hospital; many doctors followed her example as a result of her popularity of her work in wartime. This eventually lead to the discovery of germs, infection and aseptic surgery. The First World War developed the idea of infection since under the pressures of war, many wounds were still infected hence inspiring doctors to try and reduce infection risks. It also helped to develop surgery on head wounds, which lead to successful brain surgery, broken bones, grafting skin which formed the basis for plastic surgery, successful blood transfusions and the use of x-rays to improve the success of all surgeries. All these medical developments were influenced in different ways by the war, hence emphasizing the role of war in the development of medicine.
It could be said that the wars were not the only cause for discoveries, brought about a bad discovery, or lacked organization, hindering the development of medicine. However, these deficiencies of the war were improved when developments from another war were made. For example, Paré's discovery of ligatures were not always successful because of infection but the discovery of infection and antiseptic brought about by the Crimean war meant ligatures could now be a successful aseptic surgery. Similarly the Crimean war introduced new cleaning methods, which inspired doctors to discover infection and antiseptic, but under the pressures of war, it was difficult to prevent infection of wounds as the First World War proved. However infected wounds was solved by the First World War. The high numbers of infectious wounds inspired doctors to work together to further improve the risk of infection. Finally the problem with the First World War was the lack of organization and services for the soldiers because of it being a total war, causing thousands of casualties. But the government was aware of this after this war and this was improved in the Second World War. Therefore, where a war hinders the medical development another war makes up for it and brings the medical development two steps forward.
The Second World War was not as effective in medical developments since the main improvements were made due to the First World War. But it had a direct effect on the health services. At the start of the war, only those who could afford medical treatment got it, the rest would do without. There was no blood transfusion service or ambulance service in most areas during the Second World War. It was clear to the government that better organization was needed so soldiers can fight to their best ability in the war without the problem of having to worry about their health. From the experience of the First World War, the government expected thousands of injuries and were aware people needed good health to fight well and to help the war effort. So the government were willing to bring about the necessary services. From the beginning of the all the hospitals were brought under the government's control. They set up a national blood transfusion service, organized ambulance services everywhere and most importantly offered free or cheap medical service for all soldiers so they're fit to fight well.
The discovery of penicillin inspired by the First World War was also important. This is because the Second World War transformed the supply of penicillin through mass production, which was done under the urgency of the war. This inspired the investigations of better antibiotics hence inspiring a mass application of antibiotics after the war. The time urgency of the war meant politicians didn't have time to argue, services were provided immediately. This emergency system, a result of the war, meant the health of the nation was better during wartime than during peacetime. The importance of providing a free medical service for everyone became clear to all the parties since shortly after the war all were in agreement that a National Health Service should be set up. So as a result of the war and the medical services needed for all soldiers to fight well for the country, this inspired and convinced the government to set up this National Health Service. Therefore, the Second World War had also helped the medical development as it inspired the organization and improvement of medical services.
In conclusion, the wars of the renaissance time, the Crimean war, the first and the second world war all contributed a great deal to the development of medicine. Many doctors including Paré were inspired to find less painful treatments, which lead on to the discovery of anaesthetic later on. The Crimean war gave Florence Nightingale the chance to inspire many doctors and hospitals to use clean methods, which lead onto the discovery of infection and antiseptic. The First World War improved the risk of infection since doctors were also inspired by the thousands of infected wounds to find a treatment. The First World War also helped bring about modern technology like increased use of x-ray machines in surgery and also improved the development of many surgeries including for head wounds and blood transfusions. Finally the Second World War also furthered the development of medicine as it improved the medical services and inspired the government to provide NHS, which was clearly a huge improvement to the health of many people. It also brought about the mass application of antibiotics, which was the result of the discovery of penicillin, inspired by the First World War and its mass production during the Second World War. The first world war brought about the most development of medicine and change because it was a 'total war' and this meant it involve everybody, hence bringing together huge numbers of doctors and scientists that worked together under the pressures of war, finding new treatments and medical developments. However it could be argued that medical developments inspired by these wars were not always useful or successful. But, I have concluded that where one war hinders the medical development often another war makes up for it and develops on what has been discovered. In some cases like the discovery of antiseptic or anaesthetic the war was not the only cause of these discoveries. However the wars have inspired doctors to investigate these and with other added factors have made these discoveries, hence wars have at least contributed to the discovery of a development in medicine.