First aid kit

[Mastino]

Small addition: I've spent a couple op weeks up in Scandinavia and managed to cut myself twice. One pretty deep cut and another that in the civilzed world would have earned at least two stitches. I managed to close both wounds with Steristrips; one is now 100% ok and second recovering well. So: bushcraft first aid topper Steristrips.

 

[aus bushcrafter]

i would add a field dressing or a pressure bandage and burn cream. i personally cary 2 field dressings and a few bandages because im in Australia so field dressings and bandages are a must have. but still is a good kit personal kit.

 

[Genty]

Great stuff.

I it always diffuclt trying to things 'minimalist' - the constant struggle of size / appropriateness / functionality / cost ...

I think that is one of the best lightweight kit I've seen. If you take it to the other extreme - a Himalayan or Overland expedition where size is not so much of an issue, it is still vary easy to fill up on stuff that is not necessarily useful, appropriate or any good.

This is again compounded by having esoteric kit which the user may not fully understand how/when to use.

I'm not going to add anything to this kit because the temptation is always there to add stuff - which kind of defeats the purpose.


I'm used to taking a more substantial kit out and about while still keeping it trim but yours represents a great 'emergency' kit that can be kept tucked away until the proverbial hits it!

10/10 mate!

 

[apj1974]

I've adapted my first aid kit from the advice on ARRSEpedia:

http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/First_Aid_Kit

I tend not to bother with little plasters as a piece of tissue or tape usually does the trick.

Its contents are:

Plaster Strip
Antiseptic Cream with local anaesthetic (Germolene)
Petroleum Jelly
Ibuprofen
Loperamide Hydrocholide Tablets (Generic Immodium)
Antihistamine Tablets (not non-drowsy ones)
Bites and sting cream (savlon brand)
Antiseptic wipes
Emergency Blanket
Safety Pins
Tweezers
Scalpel & Blade
Scissors
A few large adhesive Dressings
Cheap whistle

and a little laminated card with the contents on it (which I copied this off!)

I've also got a plce medics webbing pouch which comes with me in group situations or when axes etc are involved and is basically a much more standard kit packed full of bandages, ffd's and a few ice packs.

 

[Genty]

On another note:

Tincture of Benzoine (also called Compound Benzoin, "Tinc benz" or Friars Balsam) is very good stuff.


For those who don't know it is a brown sticky resin which has antiseptic properties. I'm not particulalry interetsed in the antisetic properties in a pre-hopsital setting; if it is that bad - god damn get to hospital!

But...it dries sticky which makes it great to paint around a wound before applying steri-strips. Steri-strips are great but on sweaty skin (hot, humid environments or physical exersion) the can lift and peel quite easily. Treating the skin with tinc benz provides much longer lasting cohesion.

(On another note - Transpore is my tape of choice. Micropore has become the norm, possibly because it is 'surgical' and therefore cool but it doesn't stick, falls apart and attracts s#it like a magnate. Transpore (also 3M and available from pharmacists or on-line) is like a plastic, perforated tape. Sticks better and can be torn - lengthways and widthways, a bit like dick tape - so 'steri-strips' can be made from it. Quick tip - if you like products which do more than one thing, Transpore is the way forward ;-) )


Tinc Benz can be bought at chemists quite easily as Tincture of Benzoin but usually in unwieldy 500ml bottles. Homoeopathy and aromatherapy types will try and sell you miniscule bottles at extortionate costs.

I have bought small bottles (25ml and 50ml bottles) in chemists under the name Friars Balsam. Exactlys ame stuff. I have just ordered some convenient individually wrapped Benzoin soaked swabs from the US for training purposes but have yet to find them in the UK.

 

[bushblade]

i would add a field dressing or a pressure bandage and burn cream. i personally cary 2 field dressings and a few bandages because im in Australia so field dressings and bandages are a must have. but still is a good kit personal kit.

Hi, yeah I do carry a FFD too, perhaps I should add that to the origional post for the number of people who have suggested it!

 

[bushblade]

Great stuff.

I it always diffuclt trying to things 'minimalist' - the constant struggle of size / appropriateness / functionality / cost ...

I think that is one of the best lightweight kit I've seen. If you take it to the other extreme - a Himalayan or Overland expedition where size is not so much of an issue, it is still vary easy to fill up on stuff that is not necessarily useful, appropriate or any good.

This is again compounded by having esoteric kit which the user may not fully understand how/when to use.

I'm not going to add anything to this kit because the temptation is always there to add stuff - which kind of defeats the purpose.


I'm used to taking a more substantial kit out and about while still keeping it trim but yours represents a great 'emergency' kit that can be kept tucked away until the proverbial hits it!

10/10 mate!

Thanks for the kind words, your feedback is much appreciated

 

[aus bushcrafter]

sorry about that mate you probably feel every body is trolling you about carrying a ffd. but you probably should have put it there in the first place. is it a British army issue one? i know you can get British issue ones and israeli ones in aus but i prefer the aus ones but the aus ones are hard to get and the British or israeli ones are about $40 (20 pounds)

 

[bushblade]

No worries.
No its an Israeli type with the pressure bar, I think I've put it a few times in replies. I do have other/larger kits for different situations and/or with groups this is just just my personal FAK but is also the one that gets most use as I'm most likely to have this one on my person. I tend just to re-stock this one form the other kits.

 

[pteron]

Given that some of us are getting older and maybe not in the best possible shape, can I recommend a couple of soluble aspirin?

If you suspect a heart attack, one of these under the tongue can significantly reduce the damage.

I keep a couple in my desk drawer too as the average age at work is creeping up...

 

[bushblade]

Given that some of us are getting older and maybe not in the best possible shape, can I recommend a couple of soluble aspirin?

If you suspect a heart attack, one of these under the tongue can significantly reduce the damage.

I keep a couple in my desk drawer too as the average age at work is creeping up...

Thats a good point, I don't have it in this kit as its just my personal kit and I'm young and pretty fit, thanks though.

 

[Genty]

Ref First Field Dressings (FFD's) the UK ones used to be pretty hard to get hold of - the last ones I had expired in '92! The Israeli type is much superior, thankfully these are commercially available and not at ridiculous prices.

High volume absorbency, elasticated bandage and (my personal favourite selling point) double bagged and vacuum packed. One of these can live at the bottom of your bag a lifetime and won't turn into a sodden, mouldy lump. I keep one in the front pocket of my buoyancy aid which I use when I take people coasteering and it is surviving a regular dunking in the sea quite well!

SP Services Trauma Dressing

 

[rik_uk3]

Thats a good point, I don't have it in this kit as its just my personal kit and I'm young and pretty fit, thanks though.

So young and fit people don't grab their chest and drop to the floor?

 

[bushblade]

So young and fit people don't grab their chest and drop to the floor?

I'm not saying that, when at school a friend of mine died from a heart attack aged 17. It just isn't a major concern for me personaly.

 

[treefrog]

i would add a field dressing or a pressure bandage and burn cream. i personally cary 2 field dressings and a few bandages because im in Australia so field dressings and bandages are a must have. but still is a good kit personal kit.

Burn gel packs like Water-Jel are much better than creams. Always have one in my kit, and several in the car.

http://www.waterjel.com/professional-products/emergency-burn-care/burn-dressings/

 

[pteron]

Burn gel packs like Water-Jel are much better than creams. Always have one in my kit, and several in the car.

What size do you carry? There are a few sizes on SP Services but they get pretty expensive as you go up in size!

 

[treefrog]

What size do you carry? There are a few sizes on SP Services but they get pretty expensive as you go up in size!

In my pack is a 5x15 (2"x6") water-jel Cat no 0206

With my car kit i have a 10x10 (4"x4") cat no 0404 and a 10x40 (4"x16") cat no 0416

These are mainly used for face and arm burns. I'm fortunate i get them supplied through work.

 

[pteron]

Thanks for the info treefrog.

 

[aus bushcrafter]

Burn gel packs like Water-jel are much better than creams.

sorry i meant the gel packs not cream. creams not the best because the tube can explode and my gel packs are a good size and amount no to much or to less. i think i put cream down because i was thinking of antiseptic cream for god knows what reason. you don't rely need the burn gels or creams if you are near the coast in Australia (and new zealand i think) because we have a plant called aloe vera that's good for burns, cuts, gravel rash, sunburn etc. but still good to Cary the gel just incase you carn't find aloe vera plant.

 

[jamesraykenney]

Hi, yeah I do carry a FFD too, perhaps I should add that to the origional post for the number of people who have suggested it!

Kept trying to figure out what FFD was and found this:

Acronym Definition
FFD Financing for Development
FFD Free Form Deformation (computer animation)
FFD Fitness for Duty
FFD Fast Flash Disk
FFD Front des Forces Démocratiques (French: Front of Democratic Forces, Morocco)
FFD Fit For Duty
FFD Foundation Feature Data
FFD Full Field Development
FFD Flame Failure Device
FFD Focal-Film Distance
FFD Focus Film Distance (radiography, distance between the X-ray source and the film)
FFD Fractional Factorial Design
FFD Feed Forward Driving (Mitsubishi)
FFD Functional Flow Diagram
FFD First Field Dressing
FFD Fast Failure Detection
FFD Five-Finger Discount (slang for stealing)
FFD Flint Fire Department (Flint, Michigan)
FFD Fixed Flexion Deformity
FFD Finger Floor Distance (measurement used in spinal assessments)
FFD Fraction of Faults Detected
FFD Flash&Flex Developer's Magazine
FFD Fargo Fire Department (Fargo, ND, USA)
FFD Forward Flight Deck
FFD Farm Fresh Droppings (sound crew)
FFD FlashFiler Database (Turbopower Software file extension)
FFD Form Format Definition
FFD Fitchburg Fire Department (Fitchburg, MA)
FFD Fraction of Failures Detected
FFD Feedforward Decoder
FFD Funnel Floor Drain (plumbing)
FFD First Floor, Down Productions (est. 2007)

I assume that you are referring to "First Field Dressing"...
I assume that this is a common term in Briton?

Has anyone tried the Olaes bandage? I have a few on order to try them out, but real experience is better than evaluation almost any time...