Medical advances during the Civil War
F. W. Blaisdell
Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis, Sacramento 95817.
The contributions to medical care that developed during the Civil War have
not been fully appreciated, probably because the quality of care
administered was compared against modern standards rather than the
standards of the time. The specific accomplishments that constituted major
advances were as follows. 1. Accumulation of adequate records and detailed
reports for the first time permitted a complete military medical history.
This led to the publication of the Medical and Surgical History of the War
of the Rebellion, which was identified in Europe as the first major
academic accomplishment by US medicine. 2. Development of a system of
managing mass casualties, including aid stations, field hospitals, and
general hospitals, set the pattern for management of the wounded in World
War I, World War II, and the Korean War. 3. The pavilion-style general
hospitals, which were well ventilated and clean, were copied in the design
of large civilian hospitals over the next 75 years. 4. The importance of
immediate, definitive treatment of wounds and fractures was demonstrated
and it was shown that major operative procedures, such as amputation, were
optimally carried out in the first 24 hours after wounding. 5. The
importance of sanitation and hygiene in preventing infection, disease, and
death among the troops in the field was demonstrated. 6. Female nurses were
introduced to hospital care and Catholic orders entered the hospital
business. 7. The experience and training of thousands of physicians were
upgraded and they were introduced to new ideas and standards of care. These
included familiarity with prevention and treatment of infectious disease,
with anesthetic agents, and with surgical principles that rapidly advanced
the overall quality of American medical practice. 8. The Sanitary
Commission was formed, a civilian-organized soldier's relief society that
set the pattern for the development of the American Red Cross.
