Medicine - WW1 Flashcards
When did World War One begin ?
4th August 1914
What countries were in the triple alliance ?
Germany, Italy, Austria Hungary
What countries were in the triple entente ?
Britain, France, Russia
How many casualties were there in the British sector of the western front ?
2.7 million
What percentage of injured were not seen by a medical professional?
25%
How many people who were treated died of there wounds ?
150,000 or 6%
What were the problems with x rays before ww1 ?
Burns, hair loss, expensive and fragile glass tubes, bulky machines, takes 90 mins
What were the 5 battles of ww1 ?
Ypres, Ypres, Somme, Cambrai and Arras
When was the first battle of Ypres ?
1914
When was the second battle of Ypres ?
1915
When was The Somme battle ?
1916
When did the Cambrai battle happen ?
1917
What year was the battle of Arras ?
1917
What was the first battle of Ypres famous for ?
Hill 60
Why was Hill 60 an advantage ?
Germans could fire from above, better drainage, less muddy
How was Hill 60 destroyed ?
April 1915
British mined below and used explosives to blow up
Why was the second battle of Ypres important ?
Germans 1st use of poison gas in combat
Why was the battle of The Somme so significant ?
Large number of casualties
Britain 57,000 casualties (20,000 deaths) on day one
400,000 casualties in total
What technique was used by the British so they could advance ?
The creeping barrage of
Which battle was the first to use tanks ?
The Somme
Why was the battle of Cambrai significant ?
First large scale use of tanks
Why was the battle of Arras important ?
Underground tunnels
How many miles of tunnels were built in Arras in 5 months ?
2.5 miles
How many people could the tunnels of Arras hold ?
25,000
What features did the underground tunnels of Arras include ?
Electric lights, running water, hospital, 700 beds
Name the 4 ways to transport the wounded ?
Stretcher bearers, horse drawn carriages, motor ambulances, train canal and ship ambulances
Negatives of stretcher bearers ?
Wounded could only be collected at night, hard to manoeuvre
Negatives of horse drawn carriages to transport wounded ?
Couldn’t cope with the number of wounded, shaky transport made injuries worse
Negative of transporting wounded with motor ambulances?
Worse the terrain the less effective they were
Negatives of using trains and boats to transporting wounded ?
Slow boats, trains blocking supply routes
How did soldiers get trench foot ?
From standing in waterlogged trenches
Attempted solutions of trench foot ?
Whale oil on feet, changed socks twice a day, attempts to pump out water and improve duckboards
What caused trench fever ?
Lice bites
How many people did trench fever affect ?
500,000 on western front
Attempted solutions of trench fever ?
Delousing stations, disinfected clothes, men bathed and sprayed with chemicals
3 gases used in ww1 and when they were first used ?
Chlorine 1915
Phosgene 1915
Mustard gas 1917
Attempted solutions of gas attacks ?
Cotton pads soaked with urine, gas masks
How many people did gas kill in the war ?
6000
How many troops experienced shell shock ?
80,000
What was shell shock known as at the time ?
NYD.N
What happened to many soldiers with shell shock ?
They were accused of cowardice and shot
Why did head wound injuries decrease ?
Introduction of Brodie steel helmet instead of felt cap in 1915
Fatal head wounds decreased by … on the Western front after the Brodie helmet ?
80%
What percentage of all wounds were caused by shrapnel?
58%
What percentage of shrapnel wounds were in limbs ?
60%
What was a cause of infection during ww1 ?
Dirty mud water and manure fertilizer
What happened to gas gangrene wounds ?
They swelled with gas and turned green
What was the survival rate of a gunshot wound in leg at start of ww1 ?
20%
5 stages in the chain of evacuation ?
Stretcher bearers / walking wounded
Regimental aid post
Dressing station
Casualty clearing station
Base hospitals
How many stretcher bearers were there per battalion ?
16 per battalion
How far away was the RAP from the front line ?
200 meters
What did the Regimental Aid Post consist of ?
A basic medical officer for basic first aid
How far away from the RAP was the dressing stations ?
400 metres
What is a triage system ?
The allocation of treatment for patients
How far away was the CCS from the front line ?
7 miles away
What could take place at the CCS ?
Operations/amputations, later transfusions and x rays
What percentage of patients died at the Casualty Clearing Stations ?
Only 4%
Where were the base hospitals located ?
Near French/Belgium coastline
What would take place at base hospitals ?
Specialist complex surgeries, brain, plastic surgery
What did RAMC stand for during ww1 ?
Royal Army Medical Core
What did FANY stand for during ww1 ?
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
What was FANY in ww1 ?
The first women’s organization to send volunteers to the Western Front
How many drivers/ambulances did the Calais ambulance unit include ?
22 drivers and 12 ambulances
What did FANY set up ?
Mobile bath units
Name 3 ways to treat infection ?
Amputation, wound excision, Carrel-Dakin method
How many people lost limbs to prevent death by 1918 ?
Over 240 000
How many people had artificial limbs fitted due to the war ?
24 000
What was wound excision ?
Cutting away dead, damaged or infected tissue
What was the Carrel-Dakin method for ?
Gas gangrene
What happened during the Carrel-Dakin method ?
Sterilized salt solution was put in wound through a tube
What was used to keep bones rigid if shot ?
Thomas splint
After the RAMC started using the Thomas Splint in 1915 what happened to the survival rate ?
It increased from 20% to 82%
How many mobile x ray vans were on the Western Front ?
6
What were the Mobile X ray units nicknamed ?
Petit Curies
Name some disadvantages to mobile x ray units during ww1 ?
Took a long time
Tubes overheated
Can’t detect non metals like clothes
Lower quality than base hospitals
When did blood transfusions begin at the CCS ?
1917
Who designed/ created a small portable blood transfusion kit ?
Dr Geoffrey Keynes
Who discovered that sodium citrate could stop the blood clotting for 2 days and when ?
Richard Lewisohn in 1915
Who discovered that adding citrate glucose solution to blood could stop it clotting for 4 weeks ?
Rous and Turner
Who stored units of blood in bottles during Cambrai and how many ?
Oswald Robertson, 22 units
How did Harvey Cushing decrease deaths from head wounds ?
- magnets to remove metal from brain
- local Anaesthetic to stop swelling
- moved head injuries to CCS
- allowed men 3 weeks to recover
- checked all head wounds
Who developed plastic surgery during the war and what did he use ?
Dr Harold Gillies
Skin grafts and jaw splints
During ww1 how many plastic surgery operations took place in Britain/France ?
Over 12,000
