Can anyone tell me, or point me to a good reference sight (I’m googling even as we speak) what items might be contained in a a first aid kit for burns.
Here’s the background: it’s for the novel I’m working on, referenced in endless other threads of mine. I need character A to pull out the first aid kit thinking she is about to treat cuts or abrasions, then, seeing that character B has burns on her back, changing tactics. Character C (the viewpoint character), sees the change of equipment and observes that what A is using is for burns, not cuts. A then shoos C away.
In other words, I want to tell the astute reader that B has been burned without saying so explicitly.
The first aid kit belongs to character A’s mother, an E.R. nurse, so we can assume it’s well-stocked.
Answers appreciated, whether embedded in a post or linked to another site.
That’s what I’m reading. What I’m checking up on now,and should have mentioned in Post #1, is the difference between first aid for a minor, yet extremely painful, burn, and for cuts. The purpose here is to communicate Character B’s true injury, and also show that Character C (the viewpoint character), though he does not see the burns himself, is quick-witted enough to put the clues together from a very few clues.
Right now I’m having character A pull out Neosporin and anti-bacterial soap and then start soaking a towel in water.
that wouldn’t work. For one thing they’re in the bathroom. For another thing I’ve established just a paragraph earlier than A & C’s mother–oh, hell. A is JayJay, older sister to Andy, the viewpoint character. Their mother, a trauma nurse, taught JayJay first aid; she has not taught Andy because she thinks he is slow and could not learn. JayJay, disagreeing, has taught her brother what she knows.
the point of hte passage is twofold: one, tocommunicate that character B, Annabelle, has been burned (without ever saying such explicitly), and two, to demonstrate that, despite his mother’s opinion of him, andy is actually quite intelligent and observant; he can put together a few clues and quickly reach a conclusion.
Anyway…right now I’m gong with Jayjay putting aside her bandages, picking up Neosporin and gauze, and soaking a towel in hot water.
it would help a great deal to know the origin of the burn.
otherwise: first aid for burns=
-stop the burning
-cool the burn
-prevent infection
these steps are standard first aid for any burn. the difference would be the method of stopping and cooling the burn.
as a general rule: creams and ointments are discouraged. they are more likely to act as an insulator and trap heat below the skin
A towel wouldn’t work; you need running water which would cool and sooth the burn. The only thing you can do with a soaked towel is set it on the burn, which would hurt. A lot.
If I were unable to treat a burn like you described (1st degree) with running water, I would recommend applying aloe vera.
On preview, since they’re in the bathroom, and she’s a nurse, there’d be no way that burn wouldn’t be run under cold water.
small 6-hour old burns would be painful but not life threatening.
the course i would take would be to carefully clean and dress the area. the only thing i can think of that would make the situation differ from any other injury would be the method of dreesing the wounds.
generally burn wounds are adhered with an incomplete boundery of tape and loose fitting. this is to prevent excessive weeping and sticking within the gause while keeping sources of infection at bay
I’m not sure why, since they are very similar, but every burn unit (3) I’ve worked in, used Polysporin™ rather than Neosporin,™ But its only used late in the treatment mostly to minimize scarring. Putting it on a fresh burn holds the heat in and causes further injury.
There is a commercially available Burn Gel to keep the burn moist and cool until professional help is available.
If the burns are very bad, and your characters are stranded with no hope of professional health care, you might have your protagonist use tweezers to remove bits of burned clothing from the burn…
First Aid for First-Degree Burns
…
What is the treatment?
Follow these steps:
Remove jewelry or tight clothing from the burned area before it begins to swell.
Flush the burn with cool running water or apply cold- water compresses (a wet towel or handkerchief) until the pain lessens. Do not use ice or ice water, which can cause more damage to the tissues.
Cover the burn with a clean (sterile, if possible), dry, nonfluffy bandage such as a gauze pad. Do not put tape on the burn.
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Also
She’s actually the child of a nurse. She’s very smart and competent, but she’s only a teenager; I can imagine her not taking into account how much pain she’ll be putting the victim in when she starts with the towels. (and i don’t show the actual treatment anyway.
sorry last bit was done while talk shop here at work.
the gauze squares are gently placed on the burn. tape is applied around the perimeter but not completely. one side or corner of the square is generally left untaped. the gauze should be loose against the skin.
a roller type banbage would not be used because it would do the exact opposite of the previous statements.
end focus for the patient will be pain management and keeping the areas clean
The burns are superficial, just painful. The characters are in Andy and JayJay’s house; the are only stranded in the sense that none of them have any parents worth a damn.
Weeping=fluid loss from the wound, no? Or do you mean crying by the patient?
So would JayJay–smart, competent, responsible, trained, but only 14–reasonably start running water when she saw these 6-hour old cig burns? Because the running water seems the clearest way to signal to Andy and the reader that annabelle has burns on her back (since Andy, the viewpoint character, doesn’t actually see them and is not told)
irrigation of a wound would not set it apart as being specificlly a burn. just about any minor to moderate wound would benifit from irrigation.
in my mind the major point that would set this apart as a burn would be the method of dressing it. everything else i can think of could apply to any number of injuries.
Okay. You sound like a medical professional: are you?
Back to my scenario:
Andy comes to the bathroom, looking for band-aids because of his own, quite minor, injuries (scraped knees.) He knows JayJay and Annabelle are in the bathroom and that JayJay has the first aid kit. A few moments earlier he and his sister saw Annabelle flinch in pain when she was touched on the back, through her clothing, and thought she had been cut somehow.
When Andy enters the bathroom, Jayjay has just pushed up Annabelle’s sweater and sees the burns, at this point about 6 hours old. Andy does not see the burns.
JayJay, shocked, trembles. She drops the items she had in her hand when she thought Annabelle had lacerations. After a moment she recovers and gets different items to treat the painful-but-minor burns. She does not say aloud what she is doing; nor does annabelle mention what her wounds are. Andy, though, sees the change in Jayjay’s approach and says, “Ain’t that what you do for burns?”
shot from the hip. minor/moderate lacerations would get a cleaning, maybe some butterfly strips, and a protective covering.
the butterflies would not be used on burns. there would also be the absence of the bleeding associated with lacerations. so, i guess the lack of discarding any bloody clothes would be another clue toward burn.
Use the burn gel, its available for home firstaid kits. The water gel is best, and it looks different enough from other types of dressings, it would be easy to recognize as being specificly for burns.
You wouldn’t use it for extended periods, and its only palliative. It would help the pain for an hour or so, without contaminating or compromising the burn. Once the burns crust over, the pain will diminish.