Improvised Medicine: Medical Care in Resource-Poor Situations

Millions of people annually visit mountainous and remote parts of the world, and many health care professionals now seek training in the specialty of wilderness medicine. Covering the entire spectrum of medical care, this book delves deeply into ways of treating a wide variety of problems found in areas and situations with scarce resources, from dental emergencies to treating dehydration and malnutrition. Practical ways for health care professionals to use their skills and knowledge when typical equipment is unavailable are covered in detail. Dr. Kenneth V. Iserson has scoured more than 100 years of medical references for the most useful and ingenious ways to diagnose and treat problems through improvised equipment. Examples include building an ophthalmoscope without lenses and alternative methods of setting spinal fractures. An extensive appendix provides international names of common medications so practitioners can recognize what is available to them. No other book presents these unique and surprising strategies in such a comprehensive fashion.