99 Capacities Series – Capacity #19: Treat Minor Skin Wounds to Minimize Infection

The nineteenth capacity that I introduce in my eBook is that you must [be able to] treat minor skin wounds in order to minimize infections. In it I state that:

You must “treat minor skin wounds in order to minimize infections. Even small cuts can become life-threatening given the proper circumstances. Basic bandages and gauze, antibiotic ointments and such are essential. Of course, you can choose to purchase a pre-made first aid kit, which is better than nothing but you’re better off building your own. This online form can help you design your own home kit, including first aid supplies. Whatever you do, ensure you have more than enough bandage and especially gauze on hand because these supplies can be diminished quickly.”

Since I’ve written this eBook I’ve become even more adamant that every family should have a well-stocked first aid kit able to treat, not only minor wounds, but larger wounds as well. Although I’m not a medical practitioner–I wish I had that training–I keep quite a bit of equipment and supplies around… the vast majority of which I know how to use; the rest my wife does. I know that’s not the ideal situation but it’s what works for us right now.

While medial supplies are a must (use the design kits link referenced above), knowledge is key as well. Therefore, it is a must that you have a quality medical reference at hand, such as those found in the medical guides section of the Guide to the Net pages all of which can be downloaded and freely printed. I would also encourage you to have at least one emergency wilderness reference, such as Wilderness Medicine, Beyond First Aid 5th Edition. I keep this book in our bug out bags and believe it is a useful reference for a variety of situations.

I also hear very good thing about The Survival Medicine Handbook from the good people who run DoomAndBloom.net; I’m looking forward to purchasing this book but just haven’t done so yet.

With respect to wounds treatment specifically, I would strongly encourage you to purchase The Survival Doctor’s Guide to Wound Treatment by TheSurvivalDoctor.com, which I had the pleasure of reviewing not too long ago along with his Guide to Burn Treatment. And the best part is that it’s very inexpensive and available for immediate download from Amazon.

You might also be interested in these wound treatment posts from both DoomAndBloom and TheSurvivalDoctor sites mentioned above:

Books Referenced in this Post:

Note: This post is part of an ongoing series detailing the ideas from my free eBook, The 99 Capacities You MUST Acquire BEFORE Disaster Strikes You!, which you may freely download here.

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T.R.

August 9, 2012 at 7:18 pm

One thing that I always harp on repeatedly is that the hardest working set of tools you own are your hands . Gloves , gloves , and more gloves . The lightweight gardening type made of nylon that is coated with rubber on the fingers and palm side for everyday tasks , and heavy leather work gloves for serious work . Gloves go such a long way in helping to prevent cuts , scrapes , injuries to your hands , thus also preventing possible infections from such as well .