<P> During the First World War, Alexis Carrel and Henry Dakin developed the Carrel - Dakin method of treating wounds with an irrigation, Dakin's solution, a germicide which helped prevent gangrene . </P> <P> The Great War spurred the usage of Roentgen's X-ray, and the electrocardiograph, for the monitoring of internal bodily functions . This was followed in the inter-war period by the development of the first anti-bacterial agents such as the sulpha antibiotics . </P> <P> Public health measures became particular important during the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people around the world . It became an important case study in epidemiology . Bristow shows there was a gendered response of health caregivers to the pandemic in the United States . Male doctors were unable to cure the patients, and they felt like failures . Women nurses also saw their patients die, but they took pride in their success in fulfilling their professional role of caring for, ministering, comforting, and easing the last hours of their patients, and helping the families of the patients cope as well . </P> <P> From 1917 to 1923, the American Red Cross moved into Europe with a battery of long - term child health projects . It built and operated hospitals and clinics, and organized antituberculosis and antityphus campaigns . A high priority involved child health programs such as clinics, better baby shows, playgrounds, fresh air camps, and courses for women on infant hygiene . Hundreds of U.S. doctors, nurses, and welfare professionals administered these programs, which aimed to reform the health of European youth and to reshape European public health and welfare along American lines . </P>

Unlike the united states the first hospitals in europe were established by