Hi folks !
Following numerous reading I had in the last couple of years, I find out there was not a lot of accurate books about the medical prepping. Sure enought, there's a lot of good tips but they are submerged in a sea of innacurate web site and articles.
I've been an EMS & W-EMT instructor (Wilderness Emergency Medical Techician) for the past 6 years. Believe me when I say EMS (Emergency Medical Services) personnel are not trained nor ready for large SHTF scenarios. As urban based EMS, we are following very strict protocols, involving RAPID treatment and transport to hospital. Almost every first aid training available on the market are based on the same protocols: Call 911, perform basic maneuvers (SHORT TERM CARE) and wait for the ambulance to arrive. Paramedic will load and dump that poor guy at the nearest (if possible) ER where nurses and doctors are going to treat & release this same guy.
Wilderness based first aid training are made around ohter principles: Little or no equipment, little or no back up & transport, adverse weather, improvised immobilisation & splinting, LONG TERM patient & wound care, medications, splinting, water treatment, and mostly, how to keep people warm in hostile environments. Their trainings are mostly conducted outside with only what's in your backpack.
Each of those 2 kind of EMS are very well trained. The problem is they have opposed operational context. One is not better then the other, but when talking about SHTF, wilderness based training are way more closer to our reality. Being on your own, with high stress and low gear.
I'm not going furthermore in explanations about differences, I'm pretty sure you got the point. In order to give a hand to any preppers here looking for great SHTF medical books & stuff, I decided to build a little list...... Since I'm an WEMT instructor, I won't propose any precise company for those wilderness first aid training. You will be able to find good (and serious) ones on the web. Don't forget one thing: In medicine, it's all about your references......
GREAT BOOKS:
Wilderness Medecine, Paul Auerback, 2316 pages, ISBN-10: 0323032281 ****** (Known as ''The Bible'' by wilderness medics)
Field giude to wilderness medecine, Paul Auerback, 944 pages, ISBN-10: 1416046984
Most NREMT approved Pre-hospital care books (EX. EMT pre-hospital care, ISBN-13: 978-0323-04866-8
NOLS Wilderness first responder, 320 pages
Mosby PHTLS (Pre-hospital trauma life support), 440 pages, ISBN 0-323-02744-X
Wilderness Medical Society, 123 pages, ISBN-13:978-0-7627-4102-1
Nursing wound care
Basic pharmacology
SKILLS:
Patient assessment and long term planification of treatments. (Medical Vs trauma assessment)
Long term wound care !!!!!!!
How to treat and prevent infections
How to keep patient warm ( a real big challenge when dealing with multiples injuries, 2 days away from closest hospital)
Advanced water treatment (for wound cleaning and hydration)
Basic and advanced first aid kits (as no perfect kit exist on the market)
Pediatric, elderly and pregnancy care
Basic mental illness
Again, how to prevent infection and long term wound care !!!!!
EQUIPMENTS:
Personnal protective equipments: Gloves, goggles, face shield, gowns, sterile gloves(burn, baby delivery), biohazard bag,
Patient assessment & tools ( stetoscope, blood pressure cuff, pen light, succion, CPR mask, scissors, thermometer, razor)
Wound care: TEGADERMS (note 1), Sterile Q-tips, 3M steri-strips skin closure, sterile non-adherent gauze, oinment (see medications), Baxedin 0,05%, Hypafix, Tincture of benzoin,
Medications: Aspirin 325 mg, chewable Aspirin 81mg (cardiac), Acetaminophen & Ibuprofen, Epipen, Benadryl & chewable Benadryl (allergies), antibiotics ex. Cipro, Zythromax, antibiotics oinment (wound care) ex. Bactroban, muriprocin, and others usefuls meds..... Loratadine, clotrimazole (note 2), gravol, ventolin, loperamide, fucithalmic (note 3), artificials tears, gastrolyte......
I could go on for days.... This is a very short briefing, if you guys are interested in any more info, let me know your topics, I'll go in much more details....
Tips: Ask your physicians about medications.... Some of them had to be prescripted & ajust for safety issues..... Don't share them, but have your family members to get the same medications prescripted by their physicians.... Lot of health insurance will pay for them.... Just explain the physician your going to travel somewhere in the world where you have chance of getting soft tissues injuries and traveller diarhea.... Easier then explain your a prepper ;-))
Note (1) : TEGADERM wound dressing can be used as very nice repairing device on gore-tex coat, sleeping bags, gosse down jacket).
Note (2) : Clotrimazole, known as Canestan, can be used to treat & prevent fongic skin lesions between toes (athlete's foot)
Note (3): Fucithalmic and other ophtalmic medications, ophtalmic polysporin,
As a Wilderness Emergency Medical Techician, I am curious about your take on using wild medicinal plants. I have not read any of the books you have listed so please forgive my ignorance on their subject matter. I also noticed that you didn't list medicinal plant knowledge in your skills section.
So my question would be, do you not approve of the usage of medicinal plants in a wilderness survival situation (pending the level of knowledge of the plant)?
Aside from that, that's a great list you have compiled. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise on this subject as it greatly intrigues me.
If your home library contains more volumes about survival-related topics than your local public library, you might be a prepper.
Hi Faraday,
I'm not trained with wild medicinal plants, but a lot of them are covered in the Wilderness Medicine book (p. 1343-1366). A lot of studies had proved healing effects of plants, and ethnobotany & phytophamaceuticals are well documented sciences. However, we are not using them on a regular basis, here's why... Since different plants, with different healing effects will be availble on different location and different seasons, I can't rely on that to treat people. Life treatning illness & conditions needs kickass medications. Pharmaceuticals made medication always have the same dosage, same composition. If an allergic reaction occur, it's easier to control what caused it. I'm carying around 20 differents meds and having a year supply fits in two ''1450'' pelican cases. I will be willing to use medicinal herbs & plants if I had the knowledge. In a survival situation, those ethnobotany skills must be a precious help for sure! But storing and keeping plants on a regular basis will be challenging. Pharmaceuticals medication will take less space and a basic medication kit SHOULD always be part of first aid & survival kit anyways. It's like being able to start a fire with a bow stick and a rock. It's cool to know, but it's easier and faster to bring matches (or road flares).
So Faraday, keep on reading & studying wilderness medicinal plants, It's a very good knowledge ! Always know what you are using, medication or plants. Otherwide, it could be dangerous....
And please excuse any grammaticals errors, as English is my second language 😉
You write and spell better than me and english is my first language.
Thank you so much for that detailed and well backed answer. You certainly have given me something to think about, thanks again!
If your home library contains more volumes about survival-related topics than your local public library, you might be a prepper.