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battlefield medicine
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Army helicopter retrieving an injured soldier to be transported to a mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) during the Korean War, July 1951.
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Artificial lung ventilation monitor in the intensive care unit. Nurse with medical equipment. Ventilation of the lungs with oxygen. COVID-19 and coronavirus identification. Pandemic.
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medic training
medic training Military personnel undergoing medic training.

battlefield medicine

Also known as: military medicine
Written by
Peter Saracino
Freelance Defense Journalist.
Peter Saracino
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

battlefield medicine, field of medicine concerned with the prompt treatment of wounded military personnel within the vicinity of a war zone. Studies of historical casualty rates have shown that about half of military personnel killed in action died from the loss of blood and that up to 80 percent died within the first hour of injury on the battlefield. This time period has been dubbed the “golden hour,” when prompt treatment of bleeding has the...

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