I am a physician, and I've gone on several one to two week hunting trips, and I've obsessed over every single shred of gear I carried on my back. With that said, on the last trip I had the following:
1. Vial of local anesthesia with appropriate syringes
2. Nylon suture swaged on a straight needle (Keith), not needing instruments to suture
3. Povodine-Iodine swabs,
4. Bandage material
5. Oral Antibiotics/Pain Meds/Allergy meds/eye drops
6. Toradol injectible (non narcotic analgesia)
8. Sterile Gloves
9. Derma-bond (sterile superglue)
10. Duct tape (a myriad of uses)
Thank God, I've never had to use anything beyond the bandages/duct tape on foot issues. I'm not proposing everyone needs all this stuff, but they are my tools of the trade, and I like to have the option of using them.
Back when I had my trauma training, we weren't allowed to suture any wound older than 12 hours for fear of infection, and we would let it heal by "secondary intention". Actually we were so 24/7 busy that when a wound came in 12 hours old, we jumped for joy and put a nurse on debridement/cleanup and on to the next!. The 12 hour rule was flexible though, depending on the location and condition of the wound. Now that I specialize in the Head/Neck, I would close just about anything that I could clean properly. Antibiotics and great regional blood flow (plus cosmetic considerations) make this possible in this area.
Don
Similar to mine. Toradol is magic!
