Survival-Medicine.pdf

This book is a major revision of the Survival Medicine FAQ’s (Frequently Asked
Questions) originally written for the misc. survivalism Usenet newsgroup in 1997. It
was written in response to recurring posts asking the same questions and the fact that
many answers were often wrong and occasionally dangerous. It hasn’t undergone any
changes or revisions since then.
While the original content remains valid we thought it was time it underwent an
update. This is a significant revision – most sections have been re-written and a
number of new sections added. We hope you will find it useful. It is offered in good
faith but the content should be validated and confirmed from other sources before
being relied on even in an emergency situation.
There are very few books aimed at the “Practicing Medicine after the End of the
World As We Know It” market – which is hardly surprising! So we hope this book
fills a void. We also hope it will be useful for those people delivering health care in
remote or austere environments.
It is not designed as a “how to do x” reference – although there is some of that. There
are plenty of books which tell you how to practice medicine. It is designed to provide
some answers to commonly asked questions relating to survival/preparedness
medicine and to provide relevant information not commonly found in traditional texts
or direct you to that information.
We have tried to minimise technical language, but at times this has not been possible,
if you come across unfamiliar terms – please consult a medical dictionary.
It has taken two years, and a lot of stopping, and starting but here it is. The authors
and editors are passionately committed to helping people develop their medical
knowledge and skills for major disasters. We hope you find it useful.