Medical Advances of World War One Facts & Worksheets

World War I was a war of firsts. Weaponry and military technology advancements prompted tactical shifts as each side sought an advantage. Manufacturing, chemistry, and communications all saw significant advancements, while medical developments helped the care and evacuation of war casualties.

See the fact file below for more information about the Medical Advances of World War One, or you can download our 28-page Medical Advances of World War One worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

ORGANIZATION OF MEDICAL SERVICE

• Physicians willingly joined the Military Health Service (MHS) or one of the auxiliary corps in huge numbers in all fighting countries, making them one of the greatest groups of academically trained professionals engaging in the war effort. 
• Throughout the war, the number of doctors and nurses increased, and they cared for millions of sick and wounded people in hospital beds, stretchers, and blankets on the floor, inside or outside field hospitals.
• Medical care could not keep up with the number of wounded, no matter how extensive the healthcare system was or how hard physicians and nurses worked.
• Given the circumstances, the victories were more surprising than the failures. Medical officers, particularly on the Western Front, had to deal with various wounds and illnesses of varying severity. Their achievements were only possible with a high level of organization.
• Despite some national distinctions, the medical line was typically organized the same across all armies, with first aid at the Front, advanced dressing stations close to the Front, and field hospitals or casualty clearing stations (CCS) close to the Front. The British had more than fifty CCSs in Belgium and France alone in 1916, each housing 500 to 1000 patients.
• Some of the injured were then taken back to base hospitals. Exceptions were decided by a combination of geography, climate, and military style – often the former two. 
• Gallipoli and the African forest are two examples. The closer you got to the Front, the less medical care you get.
• The emphasis was triage and preparing a patient for the return voyage.
• The field hospitals or casualty clearing stations were not only where women were identified for the first time in the medial line but also where procedures were conducted closest to the Front, frequently in less than sanitary conditions. 
• Field hospitals and casualty clearing stations were often disorganized, dirty, and usually overcrowded.

PROGRESS IN MEDICAL IMAGING

• Wilhelm Röntgen, a German physician, discovered ionizing radiation and invented X-ray imaging in 1895.
• After the First Battle of the Marne in 1914, physicist Marie Curie traveled to the Front with the Union des Femmes de France and, with the support of the Red Cross, equipped several hundred trucks with X-ray devices, creating a true radiological ambulance service for soldiers injured at the Front. 
• These ambulances, quickly dubbed petite curies, saw extensive usage in 1918, with roughly 300 manned by 400 radiologists.
• This technology assisted one million wounded soldiers throughout the battle. X-ray machines were also installed in hospitals, and radiology has helped millions.
• The discovery of X-rays sparked widespread attention. Otto Glasser, Röntgen’s biographer, calculated that 49 essays and 1044 articles regarding the new rays were published in 1896 alone.
• X-rays were primarily utilized to locate foreign metal stuck in the body during World War I. 
• Reading through medical record samples, it is not surprising that this instrument was frequently used, with gunshot wounds frequently mentioned as a cause of damage.

PROGRESS IN TREATMENT

• Infections were common and difficult to manage due to a lack of sanitation amid conflict, a huge number of injuries of various types, and a wide range of difficult-to-treat illnesses that arose as a result of this circumstance. Injured soldiers were weakened by heinous diseases, rendering them more vulnerable to death from gangrene.
• This challenge was initially seen in the battleground layout. With the majority of the fighting taking place in European trenches and the unforeseen duration of the war, soldiers were sometimes famished, exposed to all weather conditions, sleep-deprived, and often knee-deep in muck alongside the dead of men and animals. Following the war, it became clear that having an efficient administrative structure that identified and prioritized injuries as they arrived was the only way to deal with the large number of casualties. Thus, the Triage System was established.
• The Triage System categorized all wounded soldiers into three categories: trivial, treatable, and terrible. 
• Minor wounds were treated first and then returned to the front lines; following that were those who required severe yet curable wounds. Lastly, some had a slim chance of survival.
• The Triage System’s development brought organization and efficiency to urgent medical care.

PROGRESS IN TREATING FRACTURES

• Since the late 1800s, the Thomas splint has been in use. During World War I, clinicians began utilizing it for the acute therapy of femoral fractures, attributing its use to lower mortality from these injuries. 
• However, the actual proportion of mortality decrease varies between articles. Despite these differences, the Thomas splint has proved effective and is still used today, particularly for patient travel while awaiting definitive treatment.
• Louise Bell mentioned in A Revolution in Treatment: The Thomas Splint, an article published on The National Archives website, that the splint transformed how warriors injured in World War I were treated.
• The Thomas splint, introduced to the Front in 1916, lowered the mortality rate from fractures (particularly of the femur) from 80% to 20% in 1918.
• The splint enabled medical workers to transfer a patient without inflicting additional injury and even reduced pain. The Thomas splints’ success can be demonstrated in its ongoing use during World War II and now.

PROGRESS IN BLOOD TRANSFUSION

• During World War I, there was also a revolution in emergency-care practices. The advancement of blood transfusion procedures is a prime illustration of this. 
• Army medics performed blood transfusions from the start of the war. However, using direct transfusion procedures proved extremely difficult. During the war, Canadian surgeon Bruce Robertson pioneered innovative transfusion techniques, but the addition of citrate to blood for its anticoagulant characteristics transformed this important operation. It was feasible to store and transport blood using this approach, which was first employed in transfusion by Belgian doctor Albert Hustin in 1914.
• Army physicians created simple but successful instruments to perform transfusions at the Front, significantly improving the chances of survival and recovery of badly injured soldiers and ushering in a huge leap in first-aid and emergency care.
• As a result, World War I exposed transfusion methods to more doctors and in more uniform processes than possible during peacetime and convinced them of their benefits. Following the war, these findings and practices became prominent in civilian medical practice.

PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE

• The exploration of mental illness and trauma was one of the most significant medical advances to come out of World War I. 
• Originally, anyone exhibiting neurotic symptoms was quickly sent to an asylum and then forgotten. With its scientific, military, and biological developments, World War I introduced a new combat that no one had anticipated.
• Neuropsychiatric advances were made, most notably through the efforts of American psychiatrist Thomas William Salmon, who advocated for the rapid treatment of shell shock in soldiers and the preservation of psychiatric institutions near the front lines.
• Shell shock is a term that arose during World War I to describe a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many troops had during the conflict before PTSD was officially recognized.
• After the Battle of Mons in 1914, the first mental casualties appeared, displaying a bewildering array of symptoms: tics, trembling, functional paralysis, hysterical blindness and deafness, speech disorders ranging from stuttering to mutism, confusion, extreme anxiety, headaches, amnesia, depression, unexplained cramps, fainting, and vomiting.
• The practical arrangements for shell-shocked wounded varied between sectors and evolved in response to battlefield exigencies and medical profession professional aspirations. Initially, British and German troops were transported home for treatment, but the French were unable to send men away from the front lines and hence established medical centers closer to the Front.

PROGRESS IN RELATION TO CHEMICAL WARFARE

• Other medical advances, similar to Shell Shock, were created due to the growing number of new combat tactics. In 1915, German forces launched chlorine gas canisters in Ypres, France. 
• As men who had been exposed for an extended period began to die with no physical wounds, widespread confusion and horror ensued. The use of cylinders necessitated a considerable reliance on the weather, notably the wind direction, which may transform an attack into self-sabotage.
• The introduction of chemical warfare in World War I introduced various distinct gas weapons, including mustard gas, bromine, and phosgene, which would later acquire traction in subsequent wars. Because of the mobilization of scientific, medical, and military realms, public health practitioners may deduce that the threat of chemical warfare was not isolated to the front lines but also against civilian populations.
• However, as harrowing as the events were, they allowed modern military medicine to develop at the cost of many lives, protecting not only soldiers but citizens whose employment required exposure to gasses. 
• While treatment was difficult to distinguish, habituation and coping strategy adoption were constantly changing. The invention of the gas mask is a classic illustration of this. Gas masks evolved alongside the list of chemicals used in warfare, with the first model being a piece of fabric that covered both the mouth and nose, with a cotton pad laced with thiosulfate to neutralize the chlorine gas.

Medical Advances of World War One Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Medical Advances of World War One across 28 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about the Medical Advances of World War One. Weaponry and military technology advancements prompted tactical shifts as each side sought an advantage. Manufacturing, chemistry, and communications all saw significant advancements, while medical developments helped the care and evacuation of war casualties.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Medical Advances of World War One Facts
2. World War I
3. KeyWords Starter
4. What is it?
5. Medic in a Box
6. Effectiveness
7. On the Go!
8. Source Analysis
9. Domino Effect
10. Challenges
11. Years from Now

Frequently Asked Questions

How did World War I contribute to medical advances?

World War I significantly accelerated medical advancements by creating a pressing need for improved healthcare on the battlefield. The large-scale and prolonged nature of the conflict prompted innovations such as better triage systems, mobile medical units, and the development of new surgical techniques. These advances not only saved lives during the war but also laid the foundation for modern military and civilian medical practices.

What were some key medical innovations during World War I?

a. Antiseptic Wound Treatment: The use of antiseptics and the development of new wound care techniques helped reduce infections and improve the survival rate of wounded soldiers.

b. Blood Transfusions: The war saw significant progress in blood transfusion techniques, leading to the establishment of blood banks and improved methods for preserving and transporting blood.

c. Plastic Surgery: Advances in plastic surgery were driven by the need to reconstruct facial injuries sustained by soldiers. Pioneering surgeons like Sir Harold Gillies made significant contributions to this field during the war.

d. Psychiatry and Shell Shock: The recognition and understanding of psychological trauma, known as “shell shock” during the war, laid the groundwork for modern psychiatry and the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

How did World War I impact the development of antibiotics?

The war played a role in the early development of antibiotics. The increasing importance of treating bacterial infections among soldiers led to intensified research into antimicrobial agents. Although the first true antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, World War II saw its mass production and widespread use. However, the groundwork for antibiotics was laid in part due to the medical challenges faced during World War I.

What role did nursing play in medical advances during World War I?

Nursing played a crucial role in medical advances during World War I. The demand for skilled nurses on the front lines led to improvements in nursing education and training. The dedication and contributions of nurses, such as those of the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) and professional nurses, helped establish nursing as a respected profession. Their experiences during the war also contributed to advancements in patient care and medical practices.

How did the medical lessons from World War I influence future conflicts and civilian healthcare?

The medical lessons learned during World War I had a lasting impact on future conflicts and civilian healthcare. Military medical organizations implemented improvements in triage, evacuation, and trauma care based on the experiences of World War I. The knowledge gained from treating a large number of casualties in a short period also influenced civilian emergency medical practices. Additionally, the war fostered collaboration between medical professionals, scientists, and governments, paving the way for continued advancements in healthcare beyond the conflict.

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