The Civil War And The Reform Of The American Medical Care System

American civil war is very influential war in America's history and occupies an unique position in world modern history.During the period of the war,soldiers' enemy is not the war but illness.These factors caused massive death to solders and civilians due to civil war and dominated medical and its system influence.After experienced failure of medical care in wartime,attention of army commander and public started to improve as well,through medical department's reform,establishing new battlefield hospital system,rescue by folk organization and other methods to improve the situation of medical care and decrease soldiers' casualty.American civil war is a kind of catalytic agent which promoted modernized course of American medical care system and laid foundation for America's medical reform in 20 th century.The paper tries to comb the change of medical care and its system before and after American war between the states,analyzed medical care and its system change of American war between states and deeply analyzed the influence of wars to medical care and its system.Which will play a degree of warning and referential value for nowadays and future word war and development of medical care system,meanwhile,it also can provide beneficial meaning to the development of our medical care system.The paper is combined by introduction,main body and conclusion.Introduction generalized cause and meaning of subject,summaries of internal and external researches and paper's research method.The paper is combined by three chapters,they are:Chapter ? analyzed major cause of death in civil war and made brief retrospection to American medical education before the civil war,to understand the reason of mass death in civil war through analyzing new weapons,tactics,illnesses and medical education.Chapter ? is subject to state progress of medical care system in American civil war.After civil war exploded,north and south America made their endeavor and mainly appeared in four aspects,giant death rate as explosion of the war made northern military medical department reformed;establishment and construction of southern military medical department;with progressing of the war,drug departmentand enterprises made great effort to guarantee supply;women made outstanding contribution in caring wounded personnel in the war and laid foundation for the establishment of nursing system.Chapter ? mainly expounded relationship between American civil war and medical system reform.Through retrospecting the situation of medical system form America's colonial period to primary 20 th century,analyzing the function of American civil war in reform of American medical system,and pointed out that American civil war played as catalytic agent in American medical education reform,scientificalness and standardization and enterprising drug industry,which accelerated modernization of American medical system.The conclusion summarized function of American civil war to medical care system,pointed out response and improvement of American surgeon and civilians in civil wartime and after civil war and became an important content in American medical social history,reflected war's promotion function to medical progress.