video: ongoing first aid

[zen_en_vert]

Hello everyone. My name is Doctor Banner, and I help organize the clinic here in Hadriel. About a month back, I talked on here about wound care, given the shortage of effective antibiotics in the city.

Now, since none of us can do the normal thing and just google this, I'd like to go on a bit more today about what to do if you or someone you know is bleeding.


First of all, if at all possible, wash your hands. I know that out on the ground you might not be able to do that, but whenever you can, treat injuries with clean hands, or even better, a pair of gloves.

The acronym that they use in first aid training is RED, for blood. Red, as in rest, elevation, and direct pressure. If you can get the person sitting down and as calm as possible, that's good- elevate the injury above their heart, if you can, then apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding.

You do it with clean fabric if you have it- bandages are ideal, but you can do clothing in a pinch. If someone is deeply cut and in danger of bleeding out, I've seen it done with duct tape applied directly to the skin, but I wholeheartedly caution against it unless it's literally a life or death emergency.

After this stage, get yourself or your friend to the clinic, or do home care to get the dirt or debris out of the cuts. Gravel, filth, anything of any kind needs to be cleared away with clean water, with soap and a washcloth, or with tweezers cleaned with alcohol. In the real world, this is where you'd be sent to get a tetanus shot, which I have absolutely no ability to give any of you right now- so just. Try really hard not to get tetanus. I'll see if I can scrape something together; anyone who hasn't had a tetanus booster in the last ten years may want to consider coming by, if I can work it out.

For a long time we used hydrogen peroxide, iodine or an iodine-containing cleanser, which can be irritating to tissue already injured. Best medical practice is not to apply those sorts of really astringent products any more, and to stay with soap, and an applied antibiotic.

We do have more of the topical creams and ointments available in the clinic now, so if you'd like to come by, I can give out a small supply. On any injury, bandages need to be changed once a day, or sooner if they're wet or dirty.

Now; stitches. Any deep cut will need stitches. If you see muscle, if you see fat, if the wound appears gaping or at all jagged, you need stitches. Adhesive is not a substitute, tape is not a substitute, stitches are the only thing that minimize your risk of infection, never mind scarring, which I assume few of you care about. Let me stress again that with the level of medical care here, an infection is likely to be fatal. I know that even our fatalities aren't technically consistently fatal, but let's be better safe than sorry. Stitches, I can teach in person, or we can go over next time.

I think I covered pretty much everything else in the infection post- if you'd like any more information about that or reminders, don't hesitate to let me know.

Comments

[zen_en_vert]

Please, do. I'll just be cleaning.

[pellameno]

[ The video feed closes and soon after there's a knock at the clinic door, and the sound of someone letting themselves in and calling out. ]

Doctor Banner?

[ Pell's not really familiar with the concept of a clinic, being from out in the middle of nowhere. If you needed medical attention beyond the basics, you were pretty much screwed until someone could travel to find help. And Wraeththu have no doctors, only healers... which is why he's here, he reminds himself, looking around the waiting area. He can help and learn at once, if the doctor lets him. ]

[zen_en_vert]

Here.

[He greets her, coming down- the outside of the clinic is, as he said, painted- with leaves, and writing, the word for medic or doctor in half a dozen languages, from Latin to Punjabi.]

I'm sorry- what was your name?

[pellameno]

Pellaz -- I just use Pell.

[ He tucks long hair back behind his ear and extends a hand in greeting. ]

It's good to meet you. Do you need any help right now?

[zen_en_vert]

Right now, I'm just cleaning, but it'd be good to give you the orientation tour before anything goes really wrong.

[pellameno]

Sure. I'll take the tour... I can clean, too. Do many people work with you?

[zen_en_vert]

I have one other magical and energy based healer- whatever you want to call it. And a couple of non-medically trained volunteers who help with maintenance and supplies. We make it work.

[pellameno]

Well now you have two. I'll do whatever you need in the meanwhile, though, since you're teaching.

[ Bruce gets a hopeful smile; Pell's desperate for something to do just as much as he does want to learn regular medicine. He's looking around curiously as he follows Bruce, having never been in a clinic before. It does seem very clean, for certain. ]

What would you do for someone with an infection here, if you didn't have healers?

[zen_en_vert]

Use the few antibiotics we do have and hope for the best. It's not that there are none- it's just that our ability to assess how effective they are is limited.

[pellameno]

Do you know what they're made from? I might be able to find some herbs in the forest... I haven't gone in there yet but usually there's something that'll help.

[zen_en_vert]

I do, but I don't trust anything growing here. Without real light, they must in some way be artificial, or at least deeply alien to the plants whose properties we understand.

[pellameno]

Alright. Then you'll have to explain to me the salves and solutions you're working with -- I've likely never heard of them.