After school on Wednesday 15 November, Paul B and Rohan G-W from Year 13 gave an Academic Excellence Lecture on battlefield medicine and the changes made from the year 1453 to 1945.
They discussed compound fractures, the development of x-rays, how medicine changed after guns and the introduction of mental issues, such as PTSD. It was interesting to hear how early medicine still included a reliance on superstition for cures, but that barber-surgeons, though not formally trained, actually made some key developments by observing their patients and trialling new ideas. There was a definite wince in the audience when Rohan described the use of boiling oil by physicians to treat
amputations!
Paul’s section of the lecture described just how many of the things we take for granted in medical science today were developed due to the world wars. He described the sheer numbers of soldiers involved in wars and the development of more industrialised warfare, which meant there was a concerted effort to improve medicine to keep more men alive and return them to the battlefield.
It was a brilliant lecture that was enjoyed by all who attended.
Emily H, Year 13
