Anything marketed to the military that advertises "Live Tissue" based training, not sure which companies are still in that game, but it's the best there is.
For the most part, there are some really specific, relatively simple things that can be done that can take a patient from 'gonna die' to 'gonna be ok if he gets to a doctor in the next hour' and 'gonna be ok if he gets to a doctor in the next 48 hours', stuff like administering IV fluids, antibiotics, etc, to stretch that 48 hours out gets complicated fast, and requires you to have the necessary equipment on hand.
Giving medical attention is all about the supplies you have on hand and the game in your hands. For trauma (falls, GSW, burns, blast, etc), the stuff that needs to be done to stabilize the patient in the first few minutes after the injury, and prior to packaging and transport, plus the packaging, is stuff that anyone can be trained to do, but the equipment is specialized, bulky, and expensive, and the skills are perishable--it's not quite like riding a bike, you don't forget it, but you'll be slow if you've been 'out of the game' for more than a month or so, and "slow" is not something you want to be in an incident like that. Basic preventative medicine (take your anti-malarial, watch out for the bad plants, don't dehydrate or eat food that will make you sick) doesn't require specialized training, just a minimum of preparation.
For non-professionals, the best thing to do with any medical problem is escalate it to a higher level of care. On the basis of my own limited knowledge, in the case listed in the thread OP, there isn't really any information or equipment that could be taken into the field, that would have changed the advised course of action.
For the most part, there are some really specific, relatively simple things that can be done that can take a patient from 'gonna die' to 'gonna be ok if he gets to a doctor in the next hour' and 'gonna be ok if he gets to a doctor in the next 48 hours', stuff like administering IV fluids, antibiotics, etc, to stretch that 48 hours out gets complicated fast, and requires you to have the necessary equipment on hand.
Giving medical attention is all about the supplies you have on hand and the game in your hands. For trauma (falls, GSW, burns, blast, etc), the stuff that needs to be done to stabilize the patient in the first few minutes after the injury, and prior to packaging and transport, plus the packaging, is stuff that anyone can be trained to do, but the equipment is specialized, bulky, and expensive, and the skills are perishable--it's not quite like riding a bike, you don't forget it, but you'll be slow if you've been 'out of the game' for more than a month or so, and "slow" is not something you want to be in an incident like that. Basic preventative medicine (take your anti-malarial, watch out for the bad plants, don't dehydrate or eat food that will make you sick) doesn't require specialized training, just a minimum of preparation.
For non-professionals, the best thing to do with any medical problem is escalate it to a higher level of care. On the basis of my own limited knowledge, in the case listed in the thread OP, there isn't really any information or equipment that could be taken into the field, that would have changed the advised course of action.