Chapter 4 to Chapter 6

When reading the next three Chapters it was intriguing to see how the USSC played a intense role in the development of critical contributions to the sick and wounded soldiers. The USSC helped establish and shape the standards of soldiers in the Health Care System. The USSC help raise awareness to the needs of soldiers when it came to what they were being fed, what they rested on when being taken to the hospitals, what they wore when getting to the hospitals, and how they were transported. They brought to light how the soldiers were already getting low portions of food, so for an ill soldier they would need more than a non-sick soldier. The clothing that the soldiers wore would be covered in dirt or in blood, causing a sanitation and cleanliness problem in the hospitals. This led to them want the soldiers to have clothing to change into during their stay. Implementing this change would help soldiers during their healing process. When looking at the pamphlet in class to see the types of questions they would ask soldiers. The questions were mind blowing because it showed that although some sort of standard was in place, they wanted to nip thing down so there would be no confusion on how things should be done. The USSC had a major impact in the way things are done in the Health Care System and every day life for soldiers during that time. 

Introduction to Chapter 3

It is very interesting to see how the medical field was back during the Civil War. The way sanitation and uncleanliness was had a major impact on how fast and often soldiers became sick and the spreading of diseases. This time period was when people began to see the need for cleanliness and sanitizing, when dealing with a sick person. Florence Nightingale made arguments that the presence of wounded infections is the best measurement of the effectiveness of a hospital. Nightingale stated, “ The poison that created the infected wound moved from bed to bed if the hospital was dirty, if it was poorly ventilated, or if the men were poorly fed and cared for.” When reading the previous quote, it made me realize how the men really were poorly taken care of and would thing have been different if a woman was caring for them. Many of the doctors and caregivers were men; women generally worked as servants. In class we discuss how women (servants) sought out to become the idea of being a nurse.