"Wartime Casualties Constantly Improve Civilian Medicine"
December 14, 2020, 1:15pm
Presented by Dr. Michael Rosenblatt via Zoom webinar.
The program is free and open to the public, but you will need to sign up here.
December 14, 2020, 1:15pm
Presented by Dr. Michael Rosenblatt via Zoom webinar.
The program is free and open to the public, but you will need to sign up here.
Picture a person fighting for his life after a horrendous motor vehicle accident. Now picture a soldier in Afghanistan also fighting for his life after his vehicle is hit by a roadside bomb. Both of these victims will become part of a vast network of trauma care that begins when emergency responders arrive within minutes to staunch bleeding and stabilize breathing. Their care continues as they are transported by ambulance, helicopter or aircraft to a trauma center, where surgeons and staff are waiting to perform lifesaving surgery. The civilian may owe his life to the soldier, because today’s incredibly complex and sophisticated trauma system came about largely due to the lessons learned from treating battlefield casualties
Prior to World War I, more soldiers died of disease than battlefield deaths. Better medical treatment and more deadly armaments soon reversed this trend. From WWI onwards, uncontrollable blood loss has caused the greatest number of deaths from war wounds, accounting for 50% of combat deaths. By developing better tourniquets and battlefield dressings that encourage clotting, and by finding more effective ways to store and transport fresh blood, the military has saved thousands of lives. The advent of the MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit in Korea brought surgery to the soldier and was the precursor of today’s civilian trauma center. In Vietnam, medics started using more and more sophisticated lifesaving techniques immediately on arriving at the patient’s side. This encouraged medical schools across the country to begin offering Emergency Medicine as a specialty.
In the early 2000’s, the military created the Trauma Care System to connect the separate lifesaving steps into an integrated whole. This system, now used by hospitals and first responders throughout the US, includes echelons of care designed to stabilize the patient, perform surgery, return him or her to the US, and begin rehabilitation, all in the shortest possible time.
Michael Rosenblatt knew he wanted to be a surgeon at five years of age. His father, a surgeon with an interest in trauma care, would take young Mike with him on calls. “I got exposure to things you just can’t do anymore,” Mike recalls. After earning a BA from Wesleyan University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College, he received his surgical training in the Boston University-Boston City Hospital Integrated Program. While at BU, he earned both an MPH and an MBA.
He joined the Lahey medical staff in 1993 and immediately became a key advisor in the creation of a trauma center at their brand-new Burlington location. When the trauma center opened in 1997, Dr. Rosenblatt was named Director and has served in that position ever since. He served in the US Navy Reserve from 1987-1998, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He served ten years as Examiner with the Baldrige National Quality Program of the US Department of Commerce, including three years as Judge for the Baldridge Award.
Prior to World War I, more soldiers died of disease than battlefield deaths. Better medical treatment and more deadly armaments soon reversed this trend. From WWI onwards, uncontrollable blood loss has caused the greatest number of deaths from war wounds, accounting for 50% of combat deaths. By developing better tourniquets and battlefield dressings that encourage clotting, and by finding more effective ways to store and transport fresh blood, the military has saved thousands of lives. The advent of the MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit in Korea brought surgery to the soldier and was the precursor of today’s civilian trauma center. In Vietnam, medics started using more and more sophisticated lifesaving techniques immediately on arriving at the patient’s side. This encouraged medical schools across the country to begin offering Emergency Medicine as a specialty.
In the early 2000’s, the military created the Trauma Care System to connect the separate lifesaving steps into an integrated whole. This system, now used by hospitals and first responders throughout the US, includes echelons of care designed to stabilize the patient, perform surgery, return him or her to the US, and begin rehabilitation, all in the shortest possible time.
Michael Rosenblatt knew he wanted to be a surgeon at five years of age. His father, a surgeon with an interest in trauma care, would take young Mike with him on calls. “I got exposure to things you just can’t do anymore,” Mike recalls. After earning a BA from Wesleyan University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College, he received his surgical training in the Boston University-Boston City Hospital Integrated Program. While at BU, he earned both an MPH and an MBA.
He joined the Lahey medical staff in 1993 and immediately became a key advisor in the creation of a trauma center at their brand-new Burlington location. When the trauma center opened in 1997, Dr. Rosenblatt was named Director and has served in that position ever since. He served in the US Navy Reserve from 1987-1998, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He served ten years as Examiner with the Baldrige National Quality Program of the US Department of Commerce, including three years as Judge for the Baldridge Award.