[Drugs in the physician's bag for emergency conditions]

The list of drugs for the physician's bag depends on several factors, including practice location, conditions most likely to be found, costs and availability of drugs, organization of the emergency medicine in the region, shelf life and climatic vulnerability of certain drugs, population age, and size and design of the bag. Most of the drugs carried should be in an injectable form. However, the non-injectable drugs with relatively rapid systemic onset may be also included. Separation of drugs in the bag according to their usage may help in providing an organized treatment. For example, one could separate drugs for treatment of the following emergencies: cardiovascular, altered mental status, respiratory, gastrointestinal, bleeding, infections, and toxicological emergencies. The list of drugs needed for medical emergencies when physician makes house-calls is presented with short notes on their usage. Oncologic, toxicologic and pediatric emergencies are commented.