First Aid Kits ... my Dilema

[Lostdreamer]

I have two faks.


One is my edc that lives in my coat pocket. It is stocked to - in theory - deal with a single life threatening injury. A pair of triangular bandages, large ambulance dressing, that sort of stuff. photos can follow if people are interested enough.


In the car I have a larger kit that is the 'minor injuries' kit. This is the one that contains plasters, burns cream, eye wash, ice packs, headache tablets etc. It also contains some spares for the edc kit.


So in the event of a serious accident, I should have the stuff on hand to handle it & stabalise the patient. In the event of a less serious one, they can wait for me to go and get the other kit out of the car. In the event of multiple serious accidents at once, then I am reliant on improvisation/other people also carrying faks.

 

[jonajuna]

on the issue of legalities etc, my understanding is that you "wont" be sued if you do something that 90% of people "identical to you" would say was correct

its called the bolam principle or test and although the case law in question was regarding medical staff and is subsequently applied to other health pros. a trained first aider could be measured against it.

if what you do in the circumstance is known to you to be outside accepted practice, you're stuffed...... if you have no knowledge or some knowledge and act logically, reasonably and with the intention of assisting and preventing further harm, your likely to be defensible.

i'm not a current ticketed first aider, but as i have been, along with having basic life support and advanced life support training previously, as well as being a nurse and a prescriber... even though emergency medicine isnt my field, i would be measured to a comparable standard as a qualified first aider and perhaps a little more as well as to that of my peers (ie nursey types doing a similar role)

the prescriber part of me means i can get sued for given you a ibuprofen without checking your allergies, history of gastric problems and if asthmatic or not... even though you can buy them with none of those checks from any petrol station... go figure! lol

as said, im a nursey not a lawyer, seek legal advice and get insured if you think you may be given first aid to anyone other than your fellow joe public. cant say what costs are but my (private rather than for public sector work) is just over £2.5k per year... it doesn't really encourage people to get skills when you are more likely to get sued for having them and doing something wrong, than not having them and doing what you think is best


on an aside, in some countries you are legally expected to assist to the best of your abilities, france is our closest neighbour that has this standard

 

[Mr Cake]

Was reading up on the legal issues around giving first aid last week before teaching it on Saturday and found the following of interest:

http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/legal.htm

Personally I take the line that if I only do what I've been taught to do in the appropriate circumstances then the risks of being successfully sued are pretty minimal.

Since there's nothing in my first aid manual about the risk of my being sued for carrying out the procedures within, does that mean I could sue the publisher/author etc for neglecting to warn me of the risk if I am subsequently sued for giving someone first aid?

 

[featherstick]

No-one has successfully sued a First Aider in this country yet, although several have tried. Thankfully, judges seem to have a common-sense approach to this issue.

To return to the OP: I would add more major dressings to ALL the FAKs shown on here. Even a relatively minor puncture wound with a knife will leak a lot and require several dressings, especially when you consider you may be in deep woods and have quite a walk back to the car/nearest house/nearest mobile phone signal. A more serious ax or machete wound will need a LOT of dressing. Triangular bandages can serve as supplementary dressings as well as being useful for other things. I wouldn't bother with steristrips - you are unlikely to be able to get a wound clean enough for closing it up in the field.

 

[jdlenton]

No-one has successfully sued a First Aider in this country yet, although several have tried. Thankfully, judges seem to have a common-sense approach to this issue.

Excelent i was about to say the same it is a sad fact that some are scared of litigation when in general most people a grateful for the help.

back on topic

i carry three kits in general

an ouch pouch for me
to cover big and small cuts from what ever tools i am carrying
burns and blisters
diarrhea and indigestion
and has been said hangovers !!!
i also have a large role of 25mm white sports tape that can be pressed into all sorts of uses slings splints etc.

I carry a group kit that corresponds to my county council specification for when I'm out with groups it is not light weight and the only thing i can change is the bag it comes in. To my embarrassment i don't even know what is in it anymore i'm sure i could get someone to E&A with what i find in it. Some one else does the stock check on the dates all i do is pick it of the stores shelf.

I also have a family kit that cover every thing from heart burn, infant high temperature, ticks, bites, stings, sun burn, grazes to big cuts, has a couple of triangular bandages, crepe bandages, wound dressings, steri strips thermometer, mirror, irrigating solution, dioralyte paracetamol gloves , again other stuff i cant quite remember comes with its own wheel barrow it never goes in my rucksack!!!

hope this helps

J*

 

[forestwalker]

I wouldn't bother with steristrips - you are unlikely to be able to get a wound clean enough for closing it up in the field.

I disagree here. A neat clean cut (f-up whille carving, etc) of smallish magnitude can very easilly be closed up. Sure, a bandaid will do for most of those, but a neat closure will (a) speed up healing (less of a gap to regrow tissue in), and (b) make less of a scar. Often I use steristrips to close things up, and a bandaid on top to keep from putting red spots on all my gear.