Wilderness medicine

The first step in field medicine is not treatment. It is not becoming the second casualty: make the scene safe, assess, call for help, keep them warm, then move.

The order is fixed: catastrophic bleeding, then airway and breathing, then splint, then clean and dress, then evacuate. Photographing the wound for the group chat comes last — or never.

The job is recognise, call, and stop it getting worse. Chasing a diagnosis before you move someone is how the window closes.

More medicine is not more safety. Your prescriptions, a small set of over-the-counter basics, and a kit — labelled, in date, and known to your partner.