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As a nurse, you can expect that my Basic First Aid kit to be much more than your average Off-the-Shelf Walmart type kit. However I have never worked a Trauma or Emergency unit even for training reasons as those are reserved for the most experienced, talented and most determined in this challenging and exciting field.

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No I'm into calm predictable routine into delivering daily care with the occasional twist like Wound Care. My skill set does have the basic procedures instilled in my practice and I'd always jump into the chance to use them. 🚧 Warning: use of clinical language ahead. Silver has been known since the 19th century as a antimicrobial agent well before the development of antibiotics. And with the push back against the over use of antibiotics of late Silver had come back as the treatment of choice in treatment against infections.

For instance the use of Silver in Silver flatware, tea service, vessels, food handling and display service, has been a proven practiced for generations for its prevention of food borne illness. The placing of a silver coin in with drinking water or milk tends to help preserve the quality of these consumables by the pioneers during a long journey. Even as far back as the ancient Phoenicians over the millennia earlier used silver preserve drink potency much longer before spoiling.

So how does it work? Here’s a quote from Podiatry Today November 2004 by Lawrence Karlock on Dr. Ovington’s comments, the President of Ovington & Associates, Inc., a wound care consulting company in Allentown, Pa.

In particular, the silver cation Ag+ is a “very potent antimicrobial agent because it can attack and damage bacterial cells at multiple sites,” notes Dr. Ovington. She explains that it attaches to specific chemical groups (thiol groups containing sulfur and hydrogen) found on a wide variety of proteins that play structural and functional roles in the bacterial cell. Once Ag+ attaches to these sites, Dr. Ovington says the cation causes structural and functional changes in the cell. For example, she notes that when Ag+ binds to proteins in the cell membrane, the cell wall can rupture and leak, resulting in the death of the bacterial cell.

I won't post the yucky pictures but there has been the practice of using 1-2% Silver Nitrate solution for the treatment of serious post-surgical high infection risk wounds complicated by a persistent infectious agent, often MRSA or others that are resilient to most topical and oral antibiotics. This was in practice well before silver therapies began to appear as over the counter home treatment solutions.

After dressing removal, assessment for inflammation, swelling, character of exuldates and odors the silver solution used is topically applied following cleaning and debridement. Typically dressing changes are twice daily as a minimum depending on dressing integrity due to the rate of serous drainage and severity of the trauma site.

Already silver based surface coatings in hospital settings have been proposed and implemented for use in hospital environments like surgical equipment, knobs, buttons, switches, counter surfaces, hand rails, any surfaces where hands routinely come into contact with to prevent the transmission of infectious agents from person to person. We can certainly see the applications would continue into other areas like restaurants and food services industries and extended even into our own homes.

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It's cool to finally see silver based treatments coming available in the public albeit likely in lower strengths but still effective enough for minor cases. But this also validates what many Stackers and Naturalpaths have known all along. The therapeutic value of silver in health care practice will be priceless. While there has been a growing variety of silver based wound treatment products available for years in the Professional clinics and offices like Acticoat, Silvercel, Aquacel Ag or Contreet F but were seeing more over the counter versions are trickling out and are becoming more available to the public.

I’m not promoting this particular product but it represents a ‘new’ generation of wound treatment finally available in the market of which it’s foundation had been already laid and practiced by our ancestors in the past.

This is just a recent add to my home First Aid kit and may be a good option for your Kit or ‘Bug Out’ bag too for all you Preppers, Survivalists, especially in applications where clean water is not readily available for immediate first aid.

R

If you are having problems dealing in coping with Stacking symptoms, side effects, or negative outcomes my clinic door will be open.

"Because the loss of a Stacker as a loss to all of us."
Kerris L Ravenhill
Steemit Public Health Intake Studies Division: HCW II, N.P.N, D.T.Dip , Bu.S.H.I.T PMAS Stackitis Study Group
🚑 💉 For the Health of the Stacking Community 🚒 💊

1, My own photos/pictures taken with a HuaweiKII-L05 SmartphoneW Wiki CommonsR Clip art vectors from 123RF C. Free clipart from Openclipart

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Bibliography

Why Silver makes the best Silverware
http://www.sellgoldhq.com/why-silver-makes-the-best-silverware/

What You Should Know About Using Silver Products in Wound Care, By Lawrence Karlock, DPM
https://www.podiatrytoday.com/article/3156

Silver-coated polymeric substrate for the management of chronic ulcerations, from The National Center for Biotechnology Information
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18981754

A review of the evidence for the use of topical antimicrobial agents in wound care, by Rose Cooper
http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2004/february/Cooper/Topical-Antimicrobial-Agents.html

I work in a Health Unit. I am a Gothic Nurse. - Salutem laboro in Unit. Nonne ego sum Antiqua.