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Background information
Surgeons in hospitals had been using aspetic surgery for a number of years, however, the conditions on the Western Front meant they needed to revert to older methods, using things like carbolic acid, as bacteria was already present on wounds of soldiers by the time they got to the surgeon. This was because most of the battles took place on farm land that had chemicals in the soil, as well as bacteria. |
1 Describe key features.
One key feature of the treatment of wounds and infections on the Western Front was that it needed to be quite old fashioned. Modern methods of surgery relied on clean environments already being in place- this was not possible on the Western Front, so that had to use carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide to kill of bacteria already in the wound.
A second feature of the treatment of wounds and infections on the Western Front was that it became more effective when they started to perform deeper surgery. More extensive surgery was sued form 1915 onwards, with surgeons cutting away all damaged tissue and muscle and allowing the wound to breathe before closing it up.
2a Utility
The Source is partially useful for an enquiry into the treatment of infection on the Western Front as we can see where this kind of treatment would take place and how risky that would have been. Moving patients back to a base hospital took time and could increase the chances of them dying, therefore, many surgeries took place closer to the front line, and relied on surgeons carefully disinfecting the wound itself.
However its utility is extremely limited for an enquiry into the treatment of trench foot on the western front because it is one example from a wide stretch of area, meaning we do not know from this source alone if it is typical of all infected soldiers experiences. Furthermore, the fact that it is a photograph means we have to have some knowledge already to be able to interpret what is going on, making this less useful to us.
One key feature of the treatment of wounds and infections on the Western Front was that it needed to be quite old fashioned. Modern methods of surgery relied on clean environments already being in place- this was not possible on the Western Front, so that had to use carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide to kill of bacteria already in the wound.
A second feature of the treatment of wounds and infections on the Western Front was that it became more effective when they started to perform deeper surgery. More extensive surgery was sued form 1915 onwards, with surgeons cutting away all damaged tissue and muscle and allowing the wound to breathe before closing it up.
2a Utility
The Source is partially useful for an enquiry into the treatment of infection on the Western Front as we can see where this kind of treatment would take place and how risky that would have been. Moving patients back to a base hospital took time and could increase the chances of them dying, therefore, many surgeries took place closer to the front line, and relied on surgeons carefully disinfecting the wound itself.
However its utility is extremely limited for an enquiry into the treatment of trench foot on the western front because it is one example from a wide stretch of area, meaning we do not know from this source alone if it is typical of all infected soldiers experiences. Furthermore, the fact that it is a photograph means we have to have some knowledge already to be able to interpret what is going on, making this less useful to us.