Friday, April 9, 2010

Innovation among Carnage

This article from a week ago was very interesting. Turns out Iraq and Afghanistan have been proving grounds for a massive number of medical innovations (there's a history of war providing new ways to save lives - amputation, vaccines, antibiotics, heli-vacs, etc), especially in the realm of stopping bleeding. Between better protective technologies and cutting edge medical treatment, It's reached the point that 95% of wounded soldiers who live to see medical treatment survive. The military is using procedures that aren't even in US emergency rooms on a wide scale yet - they were recommended by doctors years ago, but had no rollout. However, the military's logistical capabilities have given it the ability to test them on a wide scale and analyze the results to see what works so that they can adjust the procedures available in the field.
 
It's a fascinating (if graphic and somewhat depressing) article, I recommend it highly.
 
 

 

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