field guides (maybe combat)

HNcorpsman

HNcorpsman

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i am gearing up for a deployment to afghanistan for 9 months... this is a special deployment where i am the only medical provider... i will be with several marine officers, and several high ranking enlisted marines, i also care the the afghan soldiers... our mission is to train and mentor the afghan soldiers, there will be about 30 of them. all under the care of me... naturally i feel a little pressured and just want to make sure i treat the illness the proper way... i will be issued a med bag that costs about 4000 dollars with all the medical gear... including drugs, and meds... i know the navy will issue me a field guide that will instruct me on the proper way to treat the inj/illness, and will also have a list of what drugs to use... but are there any good field guides i can buy that might help even more? do they make tactical field guides for corpsman or medics? i cant seem to find to many on the internet...

thanks greg
 
AJ Hidell

AJ Hidell

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You don't need anything for trauma or combat medicine. That's instinct. And if it's not, you won't have time for a field guide anyhow. What you need is something to help you diagnose and treat all the day-to-day sick call stuff that will comprise the vast majority of your practice. Coughs, runny noses, sore throats, headaches, tummyaches, earaches, toothaches, rashes, dysuria, menstrual cramps, etc... You have a lot less education in those areas -- and a lot greater chance of screwing up there -- than in trauma.

Unfortunately, there is no really small handbook for such that adequately covers the topics, or is easy to use. Most are made as quick reminders to physicians who already have the educational foundation to work from. So you're going to have to use something a little bigger. Probably the smallest, and most popular among non-physicians, is the Merck Manual. The Merck Manual is a little sparse though, as well as outdated and difficult to use in the diagnostic process. I would use it only in a pinch. My personal favorite is Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment (CMDT). It's the the best out there, and not too terribly huge. Thick, but not as large dimensions as a textbook. No matter what problem you are working up, you will find it in there. It can save you a lot of trips to the BAS for things the MO will say you should have known!

http://www.amazon.com/CURRENT-Medic...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237630729&sr=8-1

Good luck!
 
AJ Hidell

AJ Hidell

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^ x2. That is definitely the best choice for carrying in your STOMP. It touches on a little bit of everything. It's bare bones though. You'll want something more comprehensive for base camp use though, as well as for increasing your knowledge from.
 
FF-EMT Diver

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Sounds like AJ has given you enough but here is another. Notice section 2./http://www.tacticalmedic.net/"]
 
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HNcorpsman

HNcorpsman

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thanks guys... yeah i know i wont need one for the trauma, hell most monkeys could treat a injured marine... but its the illnesses that i was talking about, because i will be the only medical provider back at base...
 
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Veneficus

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HNcorpsman said:
thanks guys... yeah i know i wont need one for the trauma, hell most monkeys could treat a injured marine... but its the illnesses that i was talking about, because i will be the only medical provider back at base...
Click to expand...

Why do people always think trauma is simple?
 
emtfarva

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Can't help.

I can't help you, but I want to wish you luck. Stay safe, and THANK YOU.
 
daedalus

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Why would the government be sending someone uneducated in medical diagnosis and treatment to care for a unit of troops? Am I missing something or is he looking for a medical school in a can guide?
 
FF-EMT Diver

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daedalus said:
Why would the government be sending someone uneducated in medical diagnosis and treatment to care for a unit of troops? Am I missing something or is he looking for a medical school in a can guide?
Click to expand...

Maybe because he's walking into the wide world of nowhere and has to play Dr. to 30 men to whatever mother nature and the insurgents can throw at them and he wanted some reassurance before he left from his fellow ems'rs.

So what if he wants anothers take on a good field guide for diagnostics.

And HNcorspsman thank you sir, and be careful I wish you the best of blessings.
 
firecoins

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Veneficus said:
Why do people always think trauma is simple?
Click to expand...

he isn't saying trauma is simple. He is saying it need intincts of having done many times. Or your screwed.
 
mycrofft

mycrofft

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Some thoughts

1. Get and keep in contact with some of the EMTLIFE-ers who have pertinent experience. Cut off right now and IM or email them.
2. No matter what else, also get the Merck Manual and use it as your bed/head/bored half dead book, you can start backfilling your knowledge base that way.
3. The historic average is >80% of war casualties are not combat related, but due to accidents, public health/illness, suicide and homocide. Prevention rocks.
4. Get tight with the extant structure, you won't need to totally reinvent the wheel.
5. Nothing is immune to betadine including jock itch and athelete's foot.
a. Nothing cures jock itch or athelete's foot forever.
6. While not being a potty-bird, take care of yourself and let your Marines take care of you too.
7. Share back what's happening to you!
 
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HNcorpsman

HNcorpsman

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wow... sorry to disappoint daedalus. i believe that i am actually very highly trained, i was the top of my class in EMT school before i joined the navy, keep in mind i was 18 at the time... i was 2nd highest in my corps school class, and was top of the class is field med... i am not looking for a medical school in a hand guide... i would just simply like to have the guide so i know my marines are being treated correctly, my life and their life depends on it, can you really blame me for trying to get this kind of information. should i really go to the rural areas of afghanistan alone without the aid of a second opinion... dont you understand? im not in the city with my partner, and a radio call away from an MD... i am in afghanistan, alone!!! and no i cant simply call someone to ask a question. it could even go the other way around, what if i get hurt, and cant treat myself... sure my marines could stop me from bleeding out, hell they could even start an IV, but do you think they would know which solution to give me? they would probably just give me NS, not thinking (or knowing) that the proper solution would be LR. if they had a reference, they would know...

veneficus... your right trauma is not simple, but it definitely isnt hard!!! dont forget i am in the military so our definition of trauma could be a bit different... i went through a school that maybe even some of you have attended, it is called operational emergency medical skills (OEMS) they put you at the bottom of a hill, the pig was at the top. i dont want to say what they do to the pig but im sure you all can imagine. we as corpsman would have to run up the hill and save the pig, i kept mine alive for 5 hours... which is pretty good... aside from running up the hill and dealing with the pig squealing and kicking this live tissue lab was easy... treating trauma is easy, keeping it alive is another story...

thank you FF-EMT-DIVER for understanding my situation.
 
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good luck.
 
AJ Hidell

AJ Hidell

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Daedelus, you don't think the physicians, PAs, and NPs in the military take books with them too? Let me assure you that they do. No matter how comprehensive your education, there will always be things you have to go back to the book for. Clinical medicine isn't as simple as your little world in the back of an ambulance. We don't have the luxury of just starting an IV and transporting every abdominal pain we get. We have to actually diagnose the problem and competently treat it. It takes more than "protocols" to do that, so let's not hastily criticize our friend here for trying to better himself and cover his bases.

Good advice from mycrofft about keeping the book handy and studying it often, instead of sitting around and playing playstation at the MWR or watching bootleg movies from the Hajji shop. But again, the Merck Manual is seriously outdated in both the content and the method of presentation. The CMDT is the Merck Manual on steroids, and is the standard that you will find in every BAS. If you're going to relate to the BAS personnel, you'll want to be working out of the same boo as them.
 
A

AZFF/EMT

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special operations medical handbook. Its a joint special operations field guide,. Has treatment/diagnosis algorythims for everything from chest pain, poisonings, regional insect problems, emergency field surgery, dental health and extraction. Pretty much anything you could encounter in a third world country.

Came in handy for me.
 
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HNcorpsman

HNcorpsman

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Veneficus

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For the benefit of anyone traveling. If you can get copies of international addition textbooks. They are paperback, pages are not as heavy grade paper, and are much easier to carry around if you need a book to go.
 
mycrofft

mycrofft

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Merck or its equiv is for that ">80%".

Also, Merck comes out with periodic updates. My understanding is that they even have multiple varieties, including sports medicine, which will help broaden treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal and orthopaedic injuries which can invalidate or even send home troops. The regular Merck or equivalent, and the NUMEROUS online resources, can help tell you what that serpigenous rash, persistent cough, or red hot fluctuant area with peeling skin is, any of which can end up sending you home, decreasing your efficiency, and maybe passing it on to others (contagion).
Besides, it will keep your brain focused onward, not entirely tactically.
 
medic417

medic417

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