Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 224 221. Absolute Loyalty and Incomparable Sense of Responsibility
Night of September 1866, 9, 28 o'clock, light rain
The southernmost tip of Silesia, the city of Granseny, where the headquarters of the Prussian Second Army is now stationed
Since the brief contact between the vanguard and the Austrian army, the two armies have been pulling each other on the northern front, and finally came to a stalemate on the border.But this stalemate is only the result of the battle seen by the commanders. For ordinary soldiers, the battle has never stopped, and the sporadic gunfire on the front line can affect their lives.

In the eyes of outsiders, the overall surgical level of Prussia is the same as that of Austria, which belongs to the first-tier in Europe, slightly better than Russia in the east, and slightly worse than Britain and France.

In fact, this kind of good or bad is completely physical, and no one has done detailed statistics.

In terms of surgical concepts, Prussia also followed the traditional European route. Miasma theory and frequent amputations dominated the thinking of surgeons.Because of various technical difficulties, there is little room for abdominal surgery.

The surgical environment is harsh, and less than 30% of the wounded soldiers who survived the ravages of the battlefield, surgical tables and long-term ward life are what people call the truly lucky ones.

The Grand Seni Central Hospital, like the Austrian Fortress Hospital, was rebuilt from an ordinary hospital and was the rear hospital of the Prussian Second Army.

Once the frontline battle started, it was hard to escape here, and a steady stream of wounded soldiers were handed over here by carriages.It is a pity that the scale of this central hospital is not large. Although the wards have just undergone expansion, the original 500 beds have only been increased to 700. On the day of the war, they were full of wounded soldiers.

In fact, the Military Medical Office cannot be blamed too much for this.

Because in the original plan of the Prussian General Staff Old Moltke, the Second Army on the Northern Front would not be the first to dispatch, and the penetration of this artillery unit and the encounter with the Austrian Third Army were purely accidental.The disconnect between strategy and reality has bred laxity and greatly delayed preparations for military hospitals.

Just two days ago, these so-called wards were just ordinary houses around the hospital.After being taken back to the military by the military medical department, except for a general cleaning and gathering together the medical items that can be found, there is no emergency treatment capability in the ward.

The bed is just a simple plank + straw, and more wounded soldiers can only sleep on the ground, or find a place to rest in the corner.There was no doctor in the entire ward, only so-called "medical staff" with bad attitudes.

If you have experienced it yourself, you may also call this attitude "cold" or even "insensitive".

The fighting on the front line was not dominated by Prussia, and injuries and retreats also caused some morale problems.At this time, the consequences of sending those bloody Prussian soldiers to this cold hospital can be imagined.

In addition to the psychological troubles of wounded soldiers, almost all military hospitals have a more prominent problem, the environment is not comfortable at all.

As the central hospital with the most "excellent" conditions in the Second Army, it was originally planned to have 700 beds and 50 nurses.But after the influx of wounded soldiers, the 700 beds became three days involving more than 2000 wounded, while the number of nurses would not change.

There were no beds for the wounded, and there were crowds everywhere.

Each room has a door and a huge chimney, but the windows are small.Due to the existence of the theory of miasma, and the location of Granseny, which is generally dry and cold in winter, did not think about the problem of ventilation in the early stage of house construction.

In order to clean the wound, the room was filled with various vats and bathtubs, filled with horrific blood, and some strange unknown tissues were eluted and floated on the water, making people sick to watch.

This is not bad on the first day of the war. At least the number of people can keep warm and the soldiers can survive.But in the next two days, there were more and more wounded, and the smell in the room became stronger and stronger.

When a hospital is struggling to do even the most basic hospital beds and clinical care, one can imagine how messy their medical treatment work is.

The Austrian muzzleloader did not have the rate of fire of the pistols in the hands of the Prussian infantry, but a single one was powerful enough to shatter their muscles and guts.

Surgery still continues the previous treatment principles. There is no way to deal with many gunshot wounds. Taking bullets blindly will only aggravate the injuries. The only thing that can be done is to bandage the wounds, stop the bleeding, and wait
Some soldiers who are lucky will live with this bullet. Those who are unlucky have no blood supply and can only wait for amputation, and more soldiers have no chance of amputation, because surgeons are limited, they can only wait for the wound to slowly recover. Infection festers.

Physicians who have studied in medical school are full of bachelors, masters, and doctorates, and there is nothing they can do about these glaring surgical wounds.But they will at least do what they can, such as trying their best to remove the peculiar smell in the room, so that the soldiers can live better.

From the morning of the 27th, every day someone would burn fir trees in the corner of the hospital ward, hoping to block the miasma through the smoke and dust, remove the rotten smell, and prevent the wound from festering further.

The approach was ridiculous, but unfortunately the wounded couldn't laugh.

Not surprisingly, on the afternoon of the 27th, the wounded sent on the first day of the battle started to have a fever.The casually bandaged wounds also began to show signs of festering. The doctor could only choose to pour cold water on their scorching bodies, but unfortunately it was of no use.

This is not a treatment that can be used casually, because many soldiers cannot enjoy such treatment because of insufficient water preparation.

That night, some gibberish under high fever could be heard in the ward, and the mortuary workers started to work early the next morning.They were divided into two groups, one group dug holes around the hospital under the supervision of soldiers, and the other group wandered around the wards, looking for dead bodies that had not yet been found.

Deaths began to spread at Gran Seni Central Hospital.

Unlike Prussia's dominance of weapons on the battlefield, in terms of medical logistics, Austria's Olmitz Fortress Hospital is much better.After four months of training and material reserves, the surgical team here has already been at the forefront of Europe.

Surgery is no longer a stereotyped amputation. Relying on debridement and disinfection, limb salvage has become the mainstream here. "Rehabilitation" of wounded soldiers replaces simple "acceptance", and those wounded soldiers are sent to the front line again. The main purpose of military hospitals exists.

The success rate of the operation is more than 35.4%, and the mortality rate is only [-]%. Such beautiful data will definitely make many colleagues call it fake.

And this is the result left in the absence of the director of the fortress hospital, Carvey Hines.

The rainy weather began to affect Olmitz on the afternoon of the 28th. After merging with the cold air coming down from the north, the temperature dropped sharply by 18 degrees from 15 degrees Celsius during the day.

At this time, the guards at the entrance of the hospital had already put on thick military uniforms, but the nurses and assistants entering and leaving the entrance were still wearing thin coats.From the bright lights inside the door, it is not difficult to see the busyness of the hospital. They breathed hot air and kept passing on the patient's information, completely ignoring the impact of the weather change on themselves.

On the wide street, two rows of wheels followed the footprints of several horseshoes that had just been stepped on, quickly rolled away the accumulated water on the road, splashed water with the color of roadside lights, and rushed all the way into the gate of the Imperial Army Fortress General Hospital .

Since receiving this "guest" at noon today, the coachman and the four good horses in front of him have been working continuously for more than 8 hours, and they are already exhausted.But the other party's military order is like a mountain. If he can't reach Olmitz today, he may lose his job immediately.

Looking at the hospital in front of him, the coachman finally heaved a sigh of relief, tightened the reins and parked the car at the door.

This is the central area of ​​the entire military fortress, and it is by no means a messy carriage that can get here, but the guards still stepped forward to ask for their credentials according to the procedure.The people in the car were also unambiguous, opened the door directly, and handed over their identity documents after getting out of the car.

The guard glanced at the document, stood still immediately, took off his military cap with his right hand and put it on his chest, bowed and said: "Sir, good evening."

"Is Hills there?"

"The acting dean should still be on the operating table." The guard said, looking back at the hospital hall.

"What about Billrot?"

"I've been working since I woke up at noon, and I'm probably on the operating table now."

The person who got out of the carriage looked solemn, glanced inside the carriage, and whispered to wake up the young man lying on the seat: "Kavi, the fortress hospital is here."

"Uh" Carvey was wrapped in a blanket, and the cold air pouring in after he opened the door made him tremble: "Notify Sears, Billrot, and the others to go to the office with all the surgical records. I want to hold an emergency meeting."

"They should still be in the operating room."

Seeing that the three of them were wearing thin clothes, the guard quickly found another companion, took off the thick military uniform and handed it over: "Sir, it's cold outside."

"Oh, thank you, no need." Carvey yawned and got out of the car, thanked the driver and walked straight to the hospital lobby, "We are not guards, as long as we enter the hospital, we will be warm."

Thanks to a four-month preparation period, several of the most important telegraph lines were built in Austria. On the night of September 9, frontline battle reports were transmitted to the Hofburg Palace in Vienna by means of a temporary telegraph wire.

But at that time, Carvey had just gotten into the carriage, and there was no source of information. It was not until this morning that he learned some news at the carriage station.

And more of these news were brought by the coachman from the Fortress of Olmitz.

War is beyond the control of military doctors. Whether they are willing to accept it or not, the war on the northern front of Pu-Ao is gradually expanding.As the director of the fortress hospital, he must be ready to admit more wounded soldiers at any time.

Since the fortress hospital began to operate, wounded soldiers have been sent here continuously.The daily operation volume of each operating room once exceeded 150 on the day of the war, and it has remained at around 80 in the past two days.

Excessive operations have caused the fatigue of the surgeons, and fatigue will lead to inattention, resulting in surgical errors.

In modern surgery, technical errors can cause many postoperative problems, but with developed perioperative treatment capabilities, most of the consequences of errors can be reversed.But in the 19th century, supportive treatment was almost zero, and the consequences of mistakes were often unavoidable.

That's why Carvey emphasizes the stability of personal skills, because they have nothing but personal skills.

Fortunately, the condition of the fortress hospital is no worse than that of any other hospital, and the supplies here are quite abundant under the preparation of Kawei.Perhaps at the beginning of the war, the response of the doctors and nurses will be a little stiff, but just like the gears that have just engaged, after several rounds of cooperation, the entire hospital has demonstrated the value of being a hospital for the center.

There are enough wards here, and after 1400 beds were filled, Hills immediately opened several more tents according to the emergency plan, and at the same time began to contact the available vacant rooms around the fortress.

He could not guarantee the lives of the wounded soldiers, but he could guarantee that they would stay in bed, that they would have cloth pads under them, blankets on their bodies, adequate water intake, and necessary medicine supplies.

Of course, in addition to this, according to Carvey's original requirements, the hospital has maintained sufficient air flow and necessary cleaning work.

"Here are all the operation records of the first operating room, and here are the records of the second operating room." An assistant pushed a small cart and piled up the records on the desk, "The third and fourth operating rooms are still there." In the process of sorting out."

"How is the treatment of the wounded?"

"The enemy's firepower is very fierce, and many wounded soldiers are already dead when they are sent." The young assistant did not dare to send the report written by Hills, and said directly, "The doctors who performed the surgery have tried their best. of."

"let me see."

Kavi is now full of energy, thanks to an afternoon of sleep and the aroma of coffee wafting from his cup.

He needs to keep abreast of the military hospital's handling situation, find the problem, and try to solve these problems before the next wave of wounded is sent: "Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to blame them."

After hearing these words, the assistant murmured in his heart.

Since Kavi got the real power in the hands of King Franz, his whole person has changed.

It cannot be said that he is not polite enough in dealing with people, nor that he is not as elegant as a baron should be. It can only be said that Carvey is stricter than anyone else in medical issues, especially surgery.

Even Ignatz, who has been with him all the time, can hardly understand these changes, and can only attribute them to loyalty to the empire and a sense of responsibility to the soldiers of the army.

Carvey took a sip of coffee, smiled and asked the assistant to retreat, and at the same time comforted: "Don't worry, I only scold those who have made mistakes. What are you afraid of?"

"."

The assistant was very helpless and was about to leave first, but he called back just as he was about to leave: "Wait a minute, let me ask you, who performed this operation? There is no signature of the chief surgeon on it, and I don't recognize the handwriting. Is it an assistant ghostwriting?"

Carvey threw the first record in front of him, and the name of the wounded was written "Maciej von Grass".Diagnosed as a penetrating bullet wound on the left calf, the surgical procedure was "wound hemostasis + wound packing and drainage".

"Why does this kind of treatment work, which is so simple that it is not even called surgery, appear here?"

　The status is a bit strange recently, the code words are not smooth, and I am not satisfied with myself, I feel sorry for your subscription. . .I will adjust slowly
　　
　
(End of this chapter)