Field service pocket book, 1914 / General Staff, War Office.

Date:
[1914]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Field service pocket book, 1914 / General Staff, War Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    269/372 (page 237)
    4. The remaining medical units are :— Clearing hospitals 200 sick. Stationary „ 200 beds. General ,, &20 „ Convalescent dep6ts 500 or 1,000 convalescents. Ambulance trains lying down cases. Hospital ships .. 220 beds. < S.VNIT.\TIO\. 5. Tlio A('l(l sanitation of units is under rcpiniental control. The unit provides 1 N.C.O. and men, according to the strength of the unit, for sanitary duties {see F.S. .Manual for tlie various arms). These men supervisj the cookliouses, ablution piaces, latrines, Ac., atid act as sanitary police. The 11.A..M.C. provide a N.C.O. and men, a.s laid down in W.E., for 'vater dutic's. These men receive special instruction in their duties, and wdl be concerned witli the puriflcation of water; they may, if circumstances permit, be employed on duties in eonnection with disinfection and with the care of the sick. They have charge, of the water carts and of any apparatus or chemieals that may be issued for sterilization of water. 6. On a L. of C. a sanitary squad is provided for each permanent post or railhead, and two for each advanced base. For each base a sanitary section is provided. 7. \ sanitary committee, consisting of a senior combatant otlicer as president and two or three selected medical experts, military or civil, as members, may be formed under special circumstances, their function being to assist general officers and the medical service in their efforts to maintain tlie health of the army. OlSP0S.\L OF C.tSU.tl.TIES. 8. X wounded man is generally first attended to by the If.O. with his unitand (uidess able to walk) is carried b.ack by the regimental stretcher-bearers to the regimental aid post, if one has been form-d, and is removed thence bv the bearers of the nearest fleld ambulance to the advanced dressing station or d.rect to the main dressing station of the ambulance. From the field ambulance he is transferred by means of motor ambulance convoys through a clearing hospital to a stationary or general ho.spital on the L. of C., when, if no further treatment is required, he is transferred to a convalescent depot. If the journey is by rail, he is ordinarily conveyed by an ambulance train. If sent to England he proceeds in a hospital ship, thence he is transferred to a military hospital. Should he require no further active treatment, although still unfit for duty, he is transferred to a convalescent depot ; from this he may proceed on sick furlough or be discharged to duty. MEhlC.VI, Notes. 9. Normal pulse ♦ • • .. 72 per minute. ,, respiration .. . • « 15 to 18 per minute. „ temperaturo .. 98-4° Fahr. First Field Dressi.ng. 10. Every officer and man carries on the fleld a dre.ssing which is placed in the pocket of the right side of the skirt of the frock. It consists of a jiackot of khaki cotton cloth containing in a linen cover two dressings, each composed of yards of bandages, some gauz > and a safety pin. Simple instructions us to the method of using it arc printed on the outer and inner covers. TRE.VTME.NT of C.t9ES OF E.mergency. 11. lileeding— llleeding may be either external or internal, and may be arterial, venous, or capillary. («) Arterial bleeding. The blood is of a bright red colour, and at first escapes in spurts.