During my military service four to five decades ago, our medical training was pretty basic. You could call it slightly more advanced first aid, if you like. There were none of the techniques, equipment and medicines that emergency medicine offers today. Pretty much all a grunt in the field could do was try to stop the bleeding, then get the injured person to a combat medic (if one was available - they weren't always around). Anything more required evacuation to a forward aid station, which might be dozens or scores of miles away, and often could only be reached by vehicles bouncing around dirt trails or even through the bush. It could be a nightmare experience for the wounded soldier, often causing more pain and suffering than the original injury. (Allow me to assure you, I know this from personal experience!)
I was reminded of that by an interesting article at Strategy Page, looking at how, most recently, the Ukraine war has brought a new perspective to battlefield medicine, and examining some of the new technology and techniques that have evolved in recent decades. Here are a couple of excerpts.
When Russia invaded in 2022, one of the many shortages was blood for transfusions to wounded soldiers and civilians. Using the slogan, “Your blood can fight too”, Ukraine made it easier to donate and converted blood collection from local hospitals and regional networks to a unified national network. Donation centers were prepared to run 24 hours a day when needed, accepting donations around the clock if the emergency lasted. Ukraine created an Operational Headquarters to monitor and coordinate nationwide blood collection and distribution activities. This conversion to a national system came several decades after the United States made the move. In turn, the Ukrainian experience has much to teach America and other NATO nations.
Russia provides less frequent and effective medical care for its wounded soldiers; military and civilian leaders are appalled at how the Ukrainian efforts have substantially reduced the number of combat deaths. Prompt blood transfusions are a key part of this and one of several reasons that for every Ukrainian combat death there are eight or more Russian losses.
. . .
Now, new medical tech is coming in the form of band-aids or bandages for people with minor bleeding injuries like cuts or scrapes. Some people do not heal as quickly, and these minor injuries can take a long time to heal. The solution is self-monitoring polymer band-aids or bandages. This smart bandage tech has completed animal testing and now faces up to a decade of human tests and development of larger bandages before it is generally available.
This smart bandage is worn for a week or two until the chronic bleeding is healed. The smart bandage consists of two parts. The most obvious part appears to be a disposable Band-Aid or bandage containing biosensors, electrodes, and hydrogel with medications, along with a device that delivers low-level electrical stimulation to speed healing. The second component is a flexible, reusable electronic patch that monitors the healing process by tracking temperature, pH, and other factors, allowing a doctor or medical technician to monitor healing. Each year, millions of people have slow-healing wounds, and smart bandages are designed to speed healing.
The smart bandage builds on two decades of major advances in emergency and combat medicine. These new technologies and procedures led to a reduction in combat deaths by more than half since 2003.
. . .
... since September 11, 2001, over two million American troops went off to war and about two percent of them were killed or wounded. Only 12 percent of the 57,000 combat zone wounds were fatal, the lowest percentage in military history. This was largely due to major improvements in dealing with rapid blood loss from a major artery being severed and the increased speed with which complex medical care could be delivered to wounded troops. New medical technologies also made it possible to detect injuries (like brain trauma) that, in the past, were very difficult to detect and treat.
There's more at the link. Interesting and recommended reading.
If you'd told us, way back when, that "smart bandages" would be a thing, we'd have accused you of drinking entirely too much of the field hospital's rubbing alcohol, probably using it to wash down morphine tablets! For the sake of today's soldiers, sailors and airmen - not to mention civilian EMT's and paramedics and their patients - I can only hope they perfect this new technology as quickly as possible.
I guess being wounded in combat kinda changes one's perspective on the importance of military medical care in particular, and general emergency medical care as well. When one's lying there, not knowing whether it's safe to close one's eyes because one can't be at all sure of being able to open them again . . . it re-orders one's priorities, to put it mildly.
Peter
No comments:
Post a Comment