for your latest post- medical minsdiagnosises or medical maltreatment/mistakes that could be practiced by somebody who doesn’t know much about wound care? I’m thinking characters who aren’t experienced in any medical field and wrong things they might do that they think are right in an emergency when another character is injured.
For wound care specifically, I think the biggest mistake would be closing a wound in the field.
There are tons of prepper/survivalist blogs that tell you how to do stitches (because its a dramatic thing to do I guess) but IRL any wound that gaps more than about 1/4 of an inch you're going to want to pack, not close.
The reason for this is twofold. One, a traumatic wound is hard to clean in the field, so if you close a wound you trap dirt and bacteria in the wound, which could form an abscess. And two, if you close a wound, you're usually just closing the top layer of skin, which leaves a pocket below the surface that can form an abscess even if the wound is relatively clean.
In hospitals, big, traumatic wounds are sometimes cleaned surgically before being sutured in multiple layers, but that's usually not something you can do without a lot of training and anesthesia. The person usually also gets antibiotics to prevent the wound from getting infected even after doing all that.
So the best way to do it when you don't have antibiotics or surgery is by packing the wound open and letting it heal from the bottom up.
Now, this is for wounds that don't have life threatening bleeding, which is a different, more pressing problem than the possibility of infection. You can also stop bleeding by packing wounds, but that's actually a different process than what I'm going to talk about here. If there's life threatening bleeding, it's best to control that and then not mess with the wound until the person gets to the hospital. This is also not covering a wound that opens the skull, chest, or abdomen. These are special cases that always require surgery and antibiotics. You should also know that if you have other options IRL, please take them. This post is not designed to tell you how to actually perform this procedure on a real living person. Take a Wilderness and Remote First Aid class for that.
But anyway. To pack a wound open, wash your hands, put some gloves on, get some gauze (crinkle-weave works best) and get it wet with clean water or saline. If you don't have gauze, use a clean, natural fabric like cotton. If you don't have sterile water or saline, just make sure the water is something you'd be comfortable drinking. If you don't have gloves know you're taking a risk, especially if you have a break in your own skin.
Using your fingers (or clean tweezers if you have them) insert the damp gauze into the wound, making sure it touches all surfaces of the inside of the wound, but doesn't sit on the skin. Keep putting more in until the wound is full, but don't pack it overly tightly. Put a clean, dry dressing over the packed wound (like an ABD pad or folded cloth).
The packing will wick contaminants out of the wound and gently debride it as it dries. Replace the packing and covering every 12-24 hours. The wound will heal from the bottom up. It might have a worse scar than something that was cleaned and closed surgically, but it's worth it to prevent the infection that could kill your character.
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