Do hospitals just like know about all snakebites or is it part of like a special doctor training or do they just have like a snake expert doctor on staff. Do they have all the anti-venoms readily available or do you need to go to a special snake hospital.
In: Biology
In very broad lines, doctors are trained to know enough to diagnose a problem and then study up on the specifics they might need to treat it.
Ie. all doctors can diagnose a snakebite and all doctors will understand the basics of envenomation and how that works. But if you get bitten by a snake that doesn’t even live on your continent, your doctor will likely consult with a specialist who does or study up in some other way to get at the details.
Along the same lines, anti-venoms don’t have long shelf lives so usually hospitals only stock anti-venoms for venomous animals in the region of the hospital. Ie. a European hospital won’t normally stock anti-venom for Australian brown snakes.
Latest Answers