Medical Innovations During World War One

Another innovation which was equally significant during the war was Medication which had a huge impact on the survival rates of soldiers. Due to new weapons used in World War One such as Artillery, soldiers were more than likely to be injured and World War One saw as many as 38 million military and civilian casualties. Soldiers not only were exposed to the dangers of injuries to their heads, arms, torso, and most commonly legs, there was also a huge risk of infection due to the terrain of the trenches, soldiers spent hours standing in mud and water meaning that infection occurred easily and quickly to wounds. Due to the conditions soldiers also very commonly were vulnerable to Trench Foot. There was such a vulnerability to infection and injury that it encouraged the development of new medical innovation and methods of medical practise.
A very significant medical innovation used during the war which changed the standard of medical treatment was Blood Transfusion. The use of blood transfusion, transferring blood directly from one person to another, was used by the British army to treat wounded soldiers. The first blood bank was established in 1917 on the Western Front when it was realised that blood could be prevented from clotting by mixing it with sodium citrate. The blood would then be kept in ice for up to 28 days and would then be taken to
Although only a simple innovation it was hugely significant at the time as due to the development of new artillery, many more soldiers were being injured to such an extent that at the beginning of the war 80% of men who broke a femur would have died but the introduction of the Thomas Splint meant that by 1916 80% of soldiers who broke limbs survived. The Thomas Splint also has been significant since the war as it would have been an influence on the modern crunches we use