Slightly more advanced medical preparedness

[klfjoat]

Because I have a lot of medical personnel I'm friends with, I had posted a request to my journal for a list of items to include in an "advanced" medical kit for emergencies. I forsee, in the event of a major emergency (Katrina and Rita hit my area), medical personnel becoming so overwhelmed with major injuries that people with lesser problems

Comments

[chipmunk_planet]

You need knowledge, not stuff. The stuff is useless at best and dangerous at worst if you don't know how to use it.

Take an EMT course if you want basic airway and trauma management, CPR, etc, and a paramedic course if you want to be able to do ACLS and start IV's. Leave the surgery to people who have experience in it. Please.

[klfjoat]

Who said anything about surgery?

[chipmunk_planet]

Scalpels + stitches = surgery

Cutting into the body and sewing without proper antisepsis is an infection waiting to happen. In a SHTF situation, infection = death.

Or maybe you're using those items for something I'm not aware of.

re: surgery

[hohaiyee]

Maybe it's a good ideal to keep those things on hand, if you could afford to, since there could be a crisis where the medical people are around, but those stuff run out? Rotate them every few years by donating it to med students who are practicing on corpses or something.

Since I can't afford it, my priority is more along the lines of food and shelter. I figure if someone has a gaping wound and help is NOT coming, I'll try to stem the bleeding with pressure, or a hot iron like they did in the middle ages.

I wonder if one can duct-tape a wound shut? If it's something just requiring stitches on the outside, the duct-tape can hold stuff together until the blood clots. Problem is, it's not breathable.