Medieval first aid name?

[cupbearer]

Hi

What about Field dressing?

[cupbearer]

Originally Posted by cupbearer

Hi

What about Field dressing?

Ah but thats a hunting term too. Ak!

[Tinman]

I think someone up thread used the term "wound care".

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

There's far more to Surgery than just suturing wounds.

Prior to TL5, there really isn't all that much - other than treatment of wounds fairly shortly after they are inflicted there just aren't very many times when surgery is either helpful or worth the risk. Other than cataracts (which was moderately safe), and bladder and urinary tract stone removal (which had like a 50% chance of killing you from infection) there weren't all that many other surgical procedures out there for anything other than wound traumas.

Well OK, I guess boring holes in your skull to let out evil spirits counts, but it doesn't actually cure anything.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Well OK, I guess boring holes in your skull to let out evil spirits counts, but it doesn't actually cure anything.

Unless of course there are evil spirits. However that'd be Esoteric Medicine (in a world where Esoteric Medicine is effective)

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Well OK, I guess boring holes in your skull to let out evil spirits counts, but it doesn't actually cure anything.

There are medical conditions for which trepanning would be a legitimate treatment, typically ones associated with certain head wounds, and apparently a lot of trepanned Neolithic skulls are found in regions where weapons that would deal such trauma were common. So saying it doesn't cure anything isn't quite accurate. As a surgery to correct "wrong" behavior that is attributed to the presence of evil spirits, however, it probably isn't of much use (outside of settings where there are evil spirits that can be drawn out this way, of course).

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Prior to TL5, there really isn't all that much - other than treatment of wounds fairly shortly after they are inflicted there just aren't very many times when surgery is either helpful or worth the risk. Other than cataracts (which was moderately safe), and bladder and urinary tract stone removal (which had like a 50% chance of killing you from infection) there weren't all that many other surgical procedures out there for anything other than wound traumas.

Well OK, I guess boring holes in your skull to let out evil spirits counts, but it doesn't actually cure anything.

I'd add amputations to the list of tasks expected to be handled by a skilled TL4- surgeon/medical professional. Despite it not being about going into the body and fixing something, amputation is medically considered a surgical procedure.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

I'd add amputations to the list of tasks expected to be handled by a skilled TL4- surgeon/medical professional. Despite it not being about going into the body and fixing something, amputation is medically considered a surgical procedure.

I'll need to check my copy of it when I get home, but I believe Bio Tech indeed does have amputation using the Surgery skill. Of course, I think bone-setting might use Surgery as well, when that really seems more like First Aid / Physician to me (setting a clean break anyway - more complicated breaks may well require a proper surgeon to get all the bits back where they need to be and immobilizing them; GURPS doesn't really have a means of distinguishing between types of fractures).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

; GURPS doesn't really have a means of distinguishing between types of fractures).

Lasting crippling wounds can represent simple fractures. Compound fractures are permanent crippling barring TL6+ Surgery.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Lasting crippling wounds can represent simple fractures. Compound fractures are permanent crippling barring TL6+ Surgery.

Nah. A compound fracture is only worse than a typical one because the bone has punctured the flesh. The resetting process is essentially identical but post treatment involves an open wound in addition to bone-setting.