RE: [Philmont]: Suture Kit

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 12:22:00 -0400, "Feurtado, Walter (Contractor)"
<Walter.Feurtado@ed.gov> said:
> do chuckle a bit because the original question was raised by someone
> representing a PHYSICIAN who wanted to know if a suture kit would be wise
> in the back country.

I've learned from personal experience not to trust emergency medical work
performed by someone, simply because they are a PHYSICIAN. I've had the
unfortunate experience of a doctor closing a wound on a boy without
properly cleaning the wound. This doctor was a surgeon. But not a
practitioner in emergency medicine. When I ran across the boy the next
day, the wound was very red and sore. We took the boy in for treatment
at the local family practice where the wound was cleaned. Unfortunately
at this late point in time it could not be sutured. I believe the
protocol is that it must be sutured in the first eight hours. After
that, the risk of infection is high and other means must be used to seal
the wound.

If it looks like it might need stitches, it probably should be checked
out by someone who does it for a living.

-- 
  Wade Steenburgh
  steenburgh@letterboxes.org
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