{{Short description|Bag for medical supplies}} thumb|Doctor's bag thumb|Traditional design A '''medical bag''' (also called a '''doctor's bag''' or '''physician's bag''') is a portable bag used by a physician or other medical professional to transport medical supplies and medicine.<ref>[http://www.heritagewnc.org/WNC_medical/default_page.htm Medical Practice in Western North Carolina at the Turn of the Century] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716234536/http://www.heritagewnc.org/WNC_medical/default_page.htm|date=2011-07-16}} (and [http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/realia/doctors_bag/doctors_bag.htm Dr. Joseph E. Osborne, M.D., D.D.S., Doctor's Bag] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623214003/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/realia/doctors_bag/doctors_bag.htm|date=2010-06-23}}), University of North Carolina at Asheville, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections/University Archives, retrieved 27 June 2010</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030820/http://www.gacetamedicabilbao.org/web/pdfdownload.php?doi=090101jg Gérvas J, Pérez-Pascual M. El cabás del médico rural. Un estudio empírico. Gac Med Bilbao. 2009; 106(2):45-9.]</ref>
Traditionally, the medical bag was made of leather, opened on the top with a split-handle design. During the American Civil War, physician's medical saddle bags were used.<ref>[http://www.sethkaller.net/catalogs/the-civil-war/41-civil-war/94-medical-saddle-bag-confederate-physician Confederate Physician’s Medical Saddle Bag] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117192110/http://www.sethkaller.net/catalogs/the-civil-war/41-civil-war/94-medical-saddle-bag-confederate-physician |date=2008-11-17 }}, Seth Kaller, Inc., retrieved 28 June 2010</ref> Modern medical bags are made of various materials and come in various designs that can include many pockets, pouches, and zippered or hook-and-loop openings.
Indigenous North American medicine men and shamans use a medicine bag. A battle bag is used in the military.
==See also== * First aid kit * Gladstone bag * The Little Black Bag
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Medical bags}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100919002139/http://www.doctorbag.org/ Doctor Bag Project - What's in the bag?], a glimpse into a doctor's bag from a typical late 1880s rural doctor, Indiana Medical History Museum * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100304055340/http://www.jnmhugateways.unimelb.edu.au/mhm/MHMS013.htm Series 13 - Medical bags, cases and other containers (with or without contents)], Medical History Museum, University of Melbourne
{{Bags}}
Category:Bags Category:Medical equipment