Rehabilitation and Adaptive Medicine in War: Lessons from Ukraine

Humanitarian & Disaster Medicine
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In conflict settings, the focus is often on the moment of survival: stopping the bleeding, securing the airway, and evacuating the injured. But what happens after that moment can shape the rest of a patient’s life.

In this webinar, rehabilitation specialist David Crandell explores the critical role of rehabilitation and adaptive medicine in modern conflict environments, drawing on experiences supporting medical systems responding to large-scale trauma in Ukraine.

Using lessons learned from both the Boston Marathon bombing response and work alongside humanitarian partners on the ground, David examines how early clinical decisions influence long-term outcomes for patients with severe injuries, including limb loss and complex trauma.

The discussion highlights the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration between first responders, surgeons, rehabilitation specialists, and prosthetics teams. It also explores how systems of care must adapt when healthcare providers are managing large numbers of injured patients over extended periods of conflict.

This session provides valuable insight for clinicians working across emergency medicine, trauma care, humanitarian response, and rehabilitation who want to better understand the full continuum of care following traumatic injury.

Topics discussed include:

• The long-term impact of early trauma care decisions
• Limb salvage, amputation, and functional outcomes
• Rehabilitation medicine in large-scale conflict settings
• The role of multidisciplinary teams in improving patient outcomes
• Lessons from Ukraine and other mass casualty events

By understanding what happens after the initial life-saving interventions, healthcare professionals can better support recovery, functional independence, and long-term quality of life for patients affected by conflict-related trauma.

More Information

Length: 45m
Guests: David Crandell
Host: Eoin Walker

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this webinar, participants should be able to:

  1. Describe the role of rehabilitation medicine within the continuum of trauma care in conflict and humanitarian settings.

  2. Explain how early clinical decisions in trauma management can influence long-term rehabilitation outcomes, including limb salvage and prosthetic use.

  3. Identify the value of multidisciplinary collaboration between emergency responders, surgeons, rehabilitation specialists, and prosthetics teams in improving patient recovery.

  4. Recognise the challenges of delivering rehabilitation services in large-scale conflict environments, where healthcare systems are under sustained pressure.

  5. Reflect on lessons learned from recent conflict and mass casualty events and consider how these insights can inform trauma and rehabilitation practice in other settings.

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