Subject: Medical Breakthrough! LONG VERSION

From: [email-masked] (Yes, I'm still here...)
Date: 27 Sep 1994 20:05:42 GMT

I'm currently suffering through an EMT re-cert course <snore> but the
issue of sucking chest wounds came up last night.  The firefighter/
paramedic instructor (a good guy actually) shared that vasoline gauze
doesn't really work that well and that you should use the foil wrapper 
on top of the vasoline gauze, taping the whole thing down. He stated,
at the end of this explanation "IF you can get it to stick, that's
the trick".

My mind wondered and two things occured to me;

1. Medical tape sucks for taping down dressings.  My company never tapes
   dressings, we roller bandage everything.  This is because back in my
   early days of being a Red Cross first-aider, I got real sick of seeing
   my taped dressings falling off of bike racers 20 minutes after putting
   them on.

2. While doing medical at Gathering of the Vibes a few weeks back, we used
   some real-life primitive medicine on a guy who a lacerated his buttocks
   with a manzineeta-bush thorn (sp?) three days earlier and had a very obvious
   working Staphylococcus infection (most likely S. aureus or S. epidermis,
   which doesn't really matter expect that I had to suffer through micro-
   biology and don't get to show off my studies very often!).  We packed his
   infected wounds, much larger than the original lac, with sugar several
   times in 2 days, covered with gauze, and taped it all down.

What's the breakthough?  Well first, it was obvious that no tape we had
would stick to his butt so we used the military green duct tape which stuck
securely until we changed it.

Until last night it hadn't dawned on me that other than taping ankles and
knees with athletic tape, I should be carrying a small roll of military 
duct tape for any sucking chest wound dressings, or any dressing I can't
roller-bandage i.e. chest, back, buttocks.

Not much of a breakthrough you say?

Hey look, I'm still just an EMT so you have to realize that little things
like this really pump my nads.

Greg (justanemtbutnowknowthatmedicaltapesucks) Dilley