Month: December 2009

Hello Jim, A. Woofer should be commended for his excellent article on Betadine. An excellent way to use/carry Betadine in a small personal first aid kit is Betadine swab sticks. There are normally used for skin prep before minor surgical procedures. Take care, – Jeff in Ohio Jim, I’m writing to take exception with the author’s affinity for using Betadine in open wounds to “prevent infection.” While the liberal application of Betadine was relatively standard practice in the Emergency Medicine community when I started practicing 20 years ago, recent studies have changed this practice considerably. As the author himself points …

Sir, That was a great article on the revival of tourniquets. One very important point that the author briefly touched on is the ability of the wounded individual to apply the tourniquet without assistance. The central tenant of it’s use by our forces in the field today is that the wounded individual must be able to tend to his own ‘blowout’ while everyone else continues to engage and suppress the enemy. Otherwise the risk is that one wounded troop might multiply into more if the enemy gains fire superiority and/or individuals expose themselves to aid a wounded comrade. Individuals who …

Jim: You recently mentioned Ciprofloxacin in your blog. Cipro is an antibacterial, a fluoroquinolone. It’s useful for urinary tract infections, bacterial (not viral) sinusitis, post-inhalation exposure to anthrax, traveler’s diarrhea, and in combination with other drugs for abdominal infections. Resistance to various sexually transmitted diseases and some bacteria that cause pneumonia (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) is increasing. Ringer’s isn’t usually given with dextrose. It can be, but not normally. Ringers is an electrolyte (salt) solution, dextrose is used to replace (just) water or water and add some carbohydrates. Electrolyte solutions are used in cases of electrolyte depletion or dehydration (often combined with …