bandages and dressings?

[phaserrifle]

I am looking to put together a small personal First aid kit, as an alternative to my big one, for when I'm out on my own or as part of a small group.

as part of this, I've been looking at bandages, and I must admit, I'm confused.
for example, in my big First aid kit (a lifesystems mountain kit), I have:
"sterile wound dressings"
"open woven bandages"
and "cotton crepe bandages"

since my rudimentary first aid training (a scouting basic first aid course) only ever used one type of bandage, plus some army surplus field dressings, I don't have a clue what the difference is, outside of the obvious difference in materieals.

can anyone help explain what the difference is?
and what would be the best choice for a pocket kit?

 

[daryl]

Phaserrifle

My first bit of advice is to undertake an updated first aid course, and I would reccomend a training provider that deals with the outdoors industry, the content and training methods will be more relevent to your needs. If you know how to recognise whats wrong and how to treat it, you can then modify items to assist in treatment (should you not have a kit available).

In relation to bandages and dressings, (i know the lifesystems kits you are talking about) and i always remove the open wove dressings and replace them as they are rather ineffective.

Bandages are used to keep dressings in place, they are not wound coverings and shouldnt be used as such
Open wove is just the method of manufacture, they dont stretch, therefore will not conform to the anatomical shape of the limb when applied. I use conforming bandages such as crinx, or easifix, etc., they are stretchy and help retain dressings in place.
Crepe bandages are used to support sprains / strains as they have a more supportive elastic structure.
Dressings are varied and numerous, incuding those with their own bandages attached such as FFD and ambulance dressings, or those without. Generally those without are either standard gauze or non adherant, such as melolin (meaning they should not stick to wounds, however not always that efficient).

My advice would be purchase conforming bandages 5cm and 7cm, non adherant hypoallergenic dressings in 5cm and 10cm sizes, a couple of no.16 eye pads (double up as small wound dressings) and the firstcare trauma bandages for big bleeds.

All good first aid suppliers such as boundtree, sp services or exmed stock all of the above.

Hope that helps

daryl

 

[Ronnie]

There's a decent discussion on bandaging here: http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1052.aspx?CategoryID=72&SubCategoryID=721

Crepe bandages are supposedly for supporting injured joints. We don't have them in my NHS workplace which includes orthopaedics, and I don't feel any need to carry any in my FAK. They're horrible things.

A bandage is quite a simple thing really, and there's not much reason to get too upset about them. I would recommend an Israeli type FFD dressing. This is a compression bandage with a plastic "bar" on it, which allows you to do them up really tight to tourniquet kind of pressures. This is useful for big trauma like axe injuries or RTC's. However - a wound dressing pad, or a wad of guaze, bound up tight with just about any bandage, ripped up shirt etc will do the job. Any kind of elastic bandage will do it better. The biggest risk is in doing them up too tight. Check distal perfusion and loosen the dressing accordingly. In other words, if you're binding up a lower leg injury and his toes go blue - ease off.

If he doesn't have any toes left, then apply the pressure bandage up as tight as you can, as close to the amputation as possible.

HTH

 

[phaserrifle]

Phaserrifle

My first bit of advice is to undertake an updated first aid course, and I would reccomend a training provider that deals with the outdoors industry, the content and training methods will be more relevent to your needs. If you know how to recognise whats wrong and how to treat it, you can then modify items to assist in treatment (should you not have a kit available).

In relation to bandages and dressings, (i know the lifesystems kits you are talking about) and i always remove the open wove dressings and replace them as they are rather ineffective.

Bandages are used to keep dressings in place, they are not wound coverings and shouldnt be used as such
Open wove is just the method of manufacture, they dont stretch, therefore will not conform to the anatomical shape of the limb when applied. I use conforming bandages such as crinx, or easifix, etc., they are stretchy and help retain dressings in place.
Crepe bandages are used to support sprains / strains as they have a more supportive elastic structure.
Dressings are varied and numerous, incuding those with their own bandages attached such as FFD and ambulance dressings, or those without. Generally those without are either standard gauze or non adherant, such as melolin (meaning they should not stick to wounds, however not always that efficient).

My advice would be purchase conforming bandages 5cm and 7cm, non adherant hypoallergenic dressings in 5cm and 10cm sizes, a couple of no.16 eye pads (double up as small wound dressings) and the firstcare trauma bandages for big bleeds.

All good first aid suppliers such as boundtree, sp services or exmed stock all of the above.

Hope that helps

daryl

thank you both for the help.

I'm looking at getting a proper first aid course, but they tend to cost an arm and a leg, even for the basic ones.

I was aware of the basics of what a bandage does (I.e. hold a dressing in place) my main problem was trying to understand why such a seemingly simple process would need such a variety of types. I suspect that looking at the suppliers didn't help, since they seem to have several 100 types of bandage, most of which probably do exactly the same thing, by a different manufacturer.

with the "firstcare trauma bandages" are these similar to the army first field dressings (FFDs)? since I can get these fairly easily.

 

[daryl]

Phaserrifle

The first care bandages are the same as the israeli dressings and much more effective than ffd,s which in turn are better than ambulance dressing (and packaged better for the outdoor environment).
And yes there are loads of bandages, all which do much the same thing, but as long as they are conforming that will do the trick.

First aid courses are expensive unfortunately, so do what you can, (I empathise entirely).

Good luck

 

[Genty]

Good reply Daryl.

Isreali style bandage:

SP Services

 

[cbkernow]

my personal, car and outdoor scout activity first aid kit simply has plastic wrapped (as opposed to the cardboard boxed) ambulance dressings of various sizes.

 

[Minotaur]

Sealed gauze pads
Triangluar Bandage
Duck Tape

I would rather carry Triangular Bandages than anything else, they can do lots of different jobs.

I can almost guarntee that you will end up bining stuff from a first aid kit because it is past its use by date. Bandages and wound dressing big on that list.

I was always taught if you need them, anything will do the job ie you have bigger worries. My first aid kit is for the small to medium stuff.

 

[Fizzy]

you will end up bining stuff from a first aid kit because it is past its use by date. Bandages and wound dressing big on that list.

If you need something to stop the bleeding quickly, use by dates are the least of your worries

 

[bigbeewee]

FFDs and israeli first care dressing are inordinately expensive.

I am more than happy with carrying a shed load of crepe bandages, (7.5cm/5cm) they are cheap and massively effective as a pressure bandage. the technique I use is, first crepe goes on the wound area, not unravelled. as a pressure dressing and is then kept in place with another crepe firmly wrapped.

gauze pads of various sizes with non confirming bandage attached are a fanny around, don't apply enough pressure, are not absorbant enough and are tricky to apply well firmly and neatly....

another firm favourite with our friends in blue seems to be duct tape which is very effective in the short term

first aid kits are just money spinners and very twee non functioning articles for anything much over small lacerations

 

[mrcharly]

What's wrong with sanitary pads, micropore and some melonin dressings? A few tubes of betadine and you are rocking.

I've lived on a boat for years; the last one came with a 'commercial' 1st aid kit (it used to be a charter boat). Most of the dressings in that kit were crap, utter crap. Cheapest possible cheesecloth with frayed edges, in badly-sealed paper packs - a lot of the packs had split open on where the glued seams failed. They were in-date as well.

 

[phaserrifle]

having taken a closer look at the israeli bandages, I've decided to stick to FFDs, simply because at present, I'm familiar with thier use, whereas the israeli seems more complex and I'm not comfortable using it without having had some practice employing them (I don't want to have to learn how to employ it properly while I'm up to my eyeballs in blood)

if and when I can get some training in how to use the israeli, I can upgrade.

past that, I'm getting some conforming bandages (some for my small kit, and some to replace the open weave ones in my bigger kit) a couple of non-adhearent dressings (5x5 and 10x10cm), a triangular bandage, some plasters, antiseptic wipes, and a bottle of hand sanitiser.
I've allready got some scissors, tweezers, and a selection of saftey pins. anything I'm missing for a pocket kit?

 

[Genty]

Here is my take on First aid kits.

First Aid Kits

Just remember, you have to decide what is right for you. Don't sweat over it; there is no 'definitive' first aid kit. The biggest mistakes people make are 1) Packing too much and 2) Packing what they want rather than what they need.

What you have got looks fine. Every season or after every incident, look at your kit and ask: Did I need this? Should I have more of them? What could I get away with getting rid of? What would do a better job than that?

 

[treefrog]

having taken a closer look at the israeli bandages, I've decided to stick to FFDs, simply because at present, I'm familiar with thier use, whereas the israeli seems more complex and I'm not comfortable using it without having had some practice employing them (I don't want to have to learn how to employ it properly while I'm up to my eyeballs in blood)

if and when I can get some training in how to use the israeli, I can upgrade.

Started to get Israeli dressings at work and they really are straightforward to apply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMRklQkfDLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2_EU1T-o-g&tracker=False&NR=1

 

[brianP]

I really enjoy using the Israeli Dressings, once I had a chance to play with a few. All of my kits now have them, along with duct tape and conform gauze rolls.

When looking at including an item, think about other uses for it. I have used IV administration sets as emergency crico tubes, and abdo pads as emergency firestarting tinder. The outer wrap on the Israeli makes a wonderful occlusive dressing. BTW, there was a book published in the UK circa 1940 showing over 200 ways to use a triangular bandage...does anyone know of a copy?