First aid kit list?

[fishy1]

What do you carry? For shorter and longer trips?

I'm planning to upgrade my kit a bit, I don't carry a lot of first aid stuff but I think I'll need something more substantial. Plasters and a bandage are not good enough for me, I know I should have more, although to be fair when I go away someone else always takes a main first aid kit for all of us.

What do you find particularly good? I could treat most injurys likely to be experienced by bushcrafting.

Also, what's the most effective painkiller for burns etc? I'm looking for something that I can get hold of legally, so no morphine, and that's fast.

 

[irishlostboy]

this is what i carry. it is not a "complete" or approved list of stuff. its just what i have found i actually regularly need. so it cannot even be called a first aid kit. its more... a wellness kit perhaps? for true first-aid, all you need is your head.

for pain i carry solpadeine soluble tablets; great for sore throat. you dissolve them, then gargle the mix. works a treat.
nurophene extra ;(i think it is called) good for most pain relief.
piriton tablets; good for hay fever and alergic reactions to bee stings.
toothaid; a little tube of temporery filler. great for if a filling falls out, or a cavity starts giving trouble, which can happen a lot due to the dietery change people have when they go camping for a while.
regular plasters; fabric stretchy ones. cut to various sizes.
water gell plasters; great for burns.
compeed plasters; for blisters.
resusy-shield; stops any fluid transfer during artificial resperation.
wound dressings; for moderate sized bleeding wounds.

this list packs into a nice tiny waterproof box which is kept in the top flap of my pack when i am out and about, and by my work desk at home. it is opened about once a week and raided for something. i am always looking for ways to improve it in practical ways, so i look forward to seeing what other people have in theirs.
i recently heard that there is a plaster that helps extract thorns. i will be keeping my eye out for this.

 

[He' s left the building]

I carry a small water-proof plastic box (Pelican micro or supermarket special) containing Band-aids, purifying tablets, chewable imodium, chewable nurofen and any other small items to be kept dry and protected.

This box is then placed in a larger zip-pouch, along with: military field dressing, compression and triangular bandages, Sam-splint, AMK Heatsheet, micro-torch, whistle, Leatherman micro-tool (for the forceps and scissors), Laerdal pocket mask.

I think it is important to keep the kit in its own dedicated pouch, so it can be cross-loaded between large bag to day-pack to jacket pocket as required.

Although I have in the past been formally trained in emergency medicine, all the items in this basic kit need little specialist training and this is all I reckon I will need in 99% of 'first-aid' situations I am likely to encounter (in the other 1% if I haven't got access to trauma kit I accept I am unlikely to be of much use)

 

[featherstick]

Gloves, if you intend to treat anyone whose HIV/Hepatitis status you don't know.

Peter Steele has written extensively on expedition first aid, including dislocations, diagnosing appendicitis, all the big scary stuff. It's in the Hillwalker's Handbook.

Some interesting points. For instance, don't bother suturing anyone - you can't keep the wound clean in the field, and suturing a dirty wound will lead to infection and greater problems.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

It's worth having aspirins as giving a heart attack victim one enables them to seriously increase survival rates.

Witch Hazel - this gel is amazing for unbroken skin burns, be stings, swellings etc

Tweezers - for splinters, stings and others.

Nick

 

[CAL]

I tend to take most of the above but pack 6 triangular bandages becuase you can fold them in many ways to make pads, bandages, supports etc.

I also keep face shields in my smaller first aid kit rather than a full sized laerdal mask.

Hope this helps,

Craig.

 

[fred gordon]

I think it depends, to some extent, on who you are and what you intend to do. If, for example you are a public employee then your First Aid kit need to comply with H&S. No asprins in those and more or less complies with a standard list of contents. I use the Life Venture Mountain Leader one. What to carry when? If you think about it you can have an accident at any time and anywhere. A serious knife cut is as serious if it happens after 5 minutes in the woods or on the last day of a 7 day trip. As a result I tend to carry the same kit if its a day out in the woods or a week or more away in a remote area.

 

[spamel]

It does depend on the activities you are gonna be carrying out. I have a small cuts kit in my possibles pouch, simply a few plasters (if I cut myself more than three times, I should have took the hint long before to put the knife away!) and a small bottle of iodine. It is basically for personal use as I would expect anybody else carrying a knife to carry something similar. In my pack I often throw one of the Indy bags with a couple of shell dressings, triangular bandages, safety pins, burn bags and a sam splint and a few crepe bandages. There are a few other bits and bobs such as a pair of shears, but I have no actual quals in First Aid even though I learnt Basic First Aid in the Forces. So if you injure yourself whilst out with me, you may get treatment in some way, but don't expect ER standard!

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

I use the Life Venture Mountain Leader one. What to carry when? If you think about it you can have an accident at any time and anywhere.

I have that one too, never used it.

I have a small hip/bumbag that I take everywhere with - witchhazel, aspirins, anadin, chewable/under tongue diocalm, piritin, steritabs and tweezers.

Nick

 

[fishy1]

What to carry when? If you think about it you can have an accident at any time and anywhere. A serious knife cut is as serious if it happens after 5 minutes in the woods or on the last day of a 7 day trip. As a result I tend to carry the same kit if its a day out in the woods or a week or more away in a remote area.

While true, in more civilised areas, help is much nearer. Conditions that would be life threatening in some circumstances, like a sprain, are a mear nuisance when close to civilisation. So, personally, I'd carry less when closer to home, as help is nearer.

I'm thinking for a longer trip I'm doing, medical things could certainly weight up to 6 or 7 kg, not something I'd carry for a walk in the woods.

 

[Lordyosch]

I pack mine into a lifesystems case, the ones you buy empty.

Plasters, compeed, compression bandage, triangular bandage, loperimide (poo-stoppers), loratidine (antihistamine), paracetamol, ibuprofen, rehydration sachets, gloves, antiseptic cream/wipes
I'm sure theres other odds and ends too...

Its built around what we have needed and what we're likely to need, I'm a hayfever sufferer and prone to knee injuries and sciatica (Someone just shoot me! -I'm not as bad as this list sounds!!) so the painkillers, antihistamines and support bandage are often used.

Its not exactly minimalist but it doesn't seem too massive either.


Jay

 

[rik_uk3]

It's worth having aspirins as giving a heart attack victim one enables them to seriously increase survival rates.

Witch Hazel - this gel is amazing for unbroken skin burns, be stings, swellings etc

Tweezers - for splinters, stings and others.

Nick

good point, and clinical based research shows that a chewed aspirin works the fastest in the system. http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/heart/heart-attack/emergencies-first-aid/aspirin


Whatever you pack in your kit, make sure you know how to use it, way too many people have "all the gear but no idea", do the training, practise on a regular basis and ALWAYS use gloves, remember, gloves don't only protect you from the patient, they protect the patient from you. I would risk giving aspirin to a suspected heart attack victim, but I would never give any other medication unless I can be assured that the patient has used that type in the past without side effects. Remember to pack a felt tip pen or paper and pencil to record the events.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

I forget that point about writing down events. The Hospital will always appreciate that.
I also pack the wee collins gem first aid book.

Nick

 

[Mikey P]

I think that pretty much everything has been covered above: plasters, triangular bandages, antibiotic creams, tweezers, gloves, resuci-mask/barrier, aspirin, gauze, wound-closure strips, pen/pencil & paper, diarrhoea (sp?) tablets, safety pins.

I spoke to a doc (our kid, actually) about pain-killers and he reckons the strongest you can get across the counter is paracetamol but dosage is critical. Nurofen are good for reducing imflammation as well as pain management. Aspirin particularly good for fever/temp management.

Soluble aspirin are useful as they can be dissolved and gargled.

Salt can make a good antiseptic mouthwash (and antiseptic wash in general with clean water) for tooth/gum problems and is also good for rehydration.

I am prone to going over on my ankle so a 'self-sticking' compression bandage and a Sam Splint always go in my kit!

The bottom line is a personal first aid kit should contain a small number of critical items and then the bits that YOU need (ie, depends on what you normally break/burn/cut!).

Interestingly, wound management and cleaning has been cited as a real life-saver over in Afghanistan and access to clean water is seen as critical. I've been using an Aquagear Survivor bottle for the last 6 weeks for training and going out and about and I heard on Podcast Bob's article on that bit of kit that it was being used to provide a reliable source of clean water for combat medics. On a slightly different note, I'll do a kit review on this soon - it's very impressive.

 

[andy_e]

Does anyone else use the paint on plasters, I saw someone using it recently and hadn't seen it before, seemed like a good idea for the smaller cuts and grazes. I think there's a Germolene branded one.