That's really useful information. I've looked it up and it's definitely used on human patients too. It seems to be really, really common in the US (which is what most search results bring up) and the ones for the UK (specifically the NHS - which Owen would have worked for pre-Torchwood) do use it too.
There was a lot of information about what type of gauze/different materials that could be used in the place of gauze, but it definitely seems to be used and would be something that Owen was familiar with.
They have access to some painkillers (made from some of the native plants) for Jack to use, but it's not super effective. It'll take the edge off, but that's about it.
The main piece of field medicine that I can think of would be the 'using maggots to clean the wound' something more common in historical military type fiction (the main thing that I can think of is one of the Sharpe books) It is something that has been reintroduced in the NHS and has had success - esp for things like ulcers.
The only problem with that is that the they don't actually have any - as although there might be something comparable amongst the native wildlife I'm not sure they could trust that it would work the same.
I think I'm going to go with:
Ianto fetches the things from the ship, but there is little of it that they can use.
Owen decides to cut away the infected tissue and use wet to dry bandages. They have access to water from a clean source that they can boil, as well as salt (sea salt that the aliens make in salt pans down river from the village at the coast).
Out of interest how many days would it be reasonable to start to see an improvement in the wound and the health of the patient? No specific timescale is necessary to the plot, more just not wanting to mention an amount of time that is either far too short or far too long.
I'm thinking a day or two for a reduction in fever and about three or four days for Owen to be able to say that it looks like it's starting to heal cleanly.
At what point would Owen stop with the wet to dry? Is it once the infection is gone or once the wound has healed to a certain point?
Thank you so much for the information that you've given me. You'll definitely be getting a mention in the notes for the help you given.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-02-23 11:55 am (UTC)There was a lot of information about what type of gauze/different materials that could be used in the place of gauze, but it definitely seems to be used and would be something that Owen was familiar with.
They have access to some painkillers (made from some of the native plants) for Jack to use, but it's not super effective. It'll take the edge off, but that's about it.
The main piece of field medicine that I can think of would be the 'using maggots to clean the wound' something more common in historical military type fiction (the main thing that I can think of is one of the Sharpe books) It is something that has been reintroduced in the NHS and has had success - esp for things like ulcers.
The only problem with that is that the they don't actually have any - as although there might be something comparable amongst the native wildlife I'm not sure they could trust that it would work the same.
I think I'm going to go with:
Ianto fetches the things from the ship, but there is little of it that they can use.
Owen decides to cut away the infected tissue and use wet to dry bandages. They have access to water from a clean source that they can boil, as well as salt (sea salt that the aliens make in salt pans down river from the village at the coast).
Out of interest how many days would it be reasonable to start to see an improvement in the wound and the health of the patient? No specific timescale is necessary to the plot, more just not wanting to mention an amount of time that is either far too short or far too long.
I'm thinking a day or two for a reduction in fever and about three or four days for Owen to be able to say that it looks like it's starting to heal cleanly.
At what point would Owen stop with the wet to dry? Is it once the infection is gone or once the wound has healed to a certain point?
Thank you so much for the information that you've given me. You'll definitely be getting a mention in the notes for the help you given.