At the origins of the organization of trauma care to the population of the Soviet Union

Abstract

Traumatological assistance to the population of the Soviet Union is analyzed. It is shown that Soviet doctors, using the experience of field surgery of the First World War, in the post-war period sought to improve the entire system of organizing trauma care for the population. Traumatological assistance in industry and agriculture became generally accessible and gradually assumed an organized, harmonious character. Non-governmental organizations were involved in the fight against injuries - labor protection, social insurance, trade unions and police. First aid points were opened at factories, and trauma centers were set up at polyclinics and outpatient hospitals. A lot of health education was ongoing to prevent injuries and provide first aid. At the end of 1939, at the plenum of the Scientific Medical Council of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, significant successes were noted in organizing trauma care and treating victims. At the first All-Russian meeting on combating injuries and its consequences in 1947, it was established that occupational injuries tend to decrease, despite the difficult post-war situation. The organization and treatment of trauma patients was developed not only in special institutions, but also in individual surgical clinics, in large hospitals, where special trauma departments were also created. Particular attention was paid to childhood injuries. In this case, the methodological guidance of the fight against injuries in children was entrusted to the Leningrad Children’s Orthopedic Institute. G.I. Turner with the involvement of representatives from other cities - Moscow, Sverdlovsk, Lviv, Kazan, Gorky, etc. It is shown that the teaching of traumatology as an integral part of surgery must be included in the programs of higher medical schools. The absolute need for institutes for the improvement of doctors is noted, the allocation of this discipline as an independent.