Clairice DrexlerDr. HermanMrs. First Draft of SharnickSophomore SymposiumBefore World War I, the practice of medicine was a far cry from how it has developed today. The practice was not advanced and therefore had few concrete methods. However, with the outbreak of World War I, there was a big push to improve these methods. Although the war caused many illnesses and deaths, it also catalyzed many improvements such as blood transfusions, x-rays, vaccines, and sanitation. Although blood transfusions had been used before World War I, many were unsuccessful due to a lack of knowledge about them. this type of treatment. World War I prompted the development of blood transfusions, making them safer. Before 17th century warfare, blood transfusions often occurred using animal blood, a practice that did not achieve the desired results. These transfusions often came from sheep, and although they were sometimes successful, it was found that any large amount of transfusions would cause death. Having concluded that animal blood transfusions did not save human lives, scientists turned to humans for human-to-human transfusions. Many of these transfusion attempts failed, but in 1818, Dr. James Blundell achieved the first successful transfusion of human blood; four ounces of blood were transferred to the patient by her husband. From that point on, doctors began to learn even more about blood transfusions and how to perform them correctly. In 1901, the four human blood groups were discovered by Karl Landsteiner; with fewer differences in blood transfused together, the amount of clotting and aggregation is decreased. This benefited many lives as toxic reactions to the wrong types of blood did not occur... middle of paper......l as the salt could keep the wounds clean, and although the process would still painful, that the pain was insignificant compared to the pain during surgery; operations in hospitals were often performed while the patient remained conscious. When it comes to wounds, according to the name of the insert here, inflamed wounds should never be closed, but rather bandaged with gauze and varnish, to allow movement, but also provide support. Infected tissue was drained, while extremely infected tissue was completely cut away from the body. Due to the lack of knowledge about many ailments, many advances in hospitals were completed. Anesthesia and rehabilitation clinics were developed and new knowledge was acquired in the field of reconstructive surgery. Due to scurvy, soldiers often required reconstructive surgery on their bones and joints, just to be able to walk again.