Medical patch should have an application delay for non-doctors

[warcrimes]

I think there's definitely a timescale on which the slower application lends itself to Idea 1, but not to Idea 2. A combat situation lasts more than a couple dozen seconds usually. If all your chems are in the bloodstream before you actually end up in dire straits, you're not benefiting from pre-applying. At the same time, that dozen seconds or so is long enough for your opponent to permastun you and later finish you off.

In other words, it requires a little foresight, application when you're maybe in yellow or orange, which is when both of you're still moving fast enough that fighting back is definitely the thing you want to be doing, not healing- but since you can slap a patch on and keep fighting while you wait for the countdown, you're at least not a sitting duck.