VIDEO: How to Diagnose Burn Severity: The Rule of 9’s

Survival MD: What to Do When There’s No Doctor addresses a wide array of medical information ranging from prevention to emergency response. In today’s video, Tyler discusses some of the information included in the text that covers the assessment and treatment of burns. 

The skin might be overlooked when considering vital organs, but it’s our largest and on the frontlines of our immune system. While cuts and scratches are easily addressed, burns can significantly damage the skin. 

However, it’s often difficult to know how severe the burns are until they’ve started to negatively impact the patient. In this video, Tyler explains the Rule of 9’s. This principle divides the body into portions representing 9%, or multiples of nine. These portions are used to diagnose what total percentage of the patent’s body is burned.

This rule is important because if 40% or more of a patient’s skin is burned, their chance of survival drastically drops. Even with quality care in a medical facility, burns over that much of the body stacks the odds against the individual. Knowing this fact can assist in triage with multiple wounded in an emergency situation.

Part of survival skills and disaster preparedness is making tough decisions and prioritizing. While it might be difficult to accept, when disaster strikes, you might be required to decide who gets care first. Knowledge of triaging principles like the Rule of 9 will help you make the right choice in the heat of the moment.

This is just one example of why Survival MD: What to Do When There’s No Doctor needs to be in the library of every survivalist and prepper. It greatly expands upon the knowledge normally included in survival manuals and even books dedicated to ditch medicine.