First aid question- field dressings.

[Boosh]

There seems to be a few ex forces here on BCUK so thought it a good place to ask this question.

For those of you that have first aid kits with you whilst you are out, is there a civillian alternative to the army field dressing? Amongst other stuff i have a kit with a few bandages in it, but to be honest i'd feel comfier with something that could handle the bigger injuries that we could come across. If not, any recommendations for cheap field dressings?

Any suggestions most welcome.

Thanks,

Boosh.

 

[Cormac]

go to a pharmasist and ask for a no.9
an ambo dressing

they should have one

 

[Boosh]

Thats great, thank you.

Boosh.

 

[chrisanson]

When I did my first aid I was taught to use a triangular bandage as the main dressing .
Fold in halve to make a triangle then fold down into a long bandage. Then fold in from each end to the middle two or three times.
This can then be used one handed if the need should arise .
Chris

 

[amott69]

You can buy the a first field dressing from a number of online stores.I remember being told when i was in the army, that tampax are good for plugging puncture wounds as they can hold a lot of blood
http://www.spservices.co.uk/index.php/cPath/91_253?osCsid=baa77c1c4a5f44153df4d2b77c92905c

 

[fred gordon]

I think that you also need to be sure that any dressing you buy is sterile. If it is too old or the packaging has been punctured then it should be treated as suspect. I would suggest new dressings for a reputable source. You wouldn't want to subject yourself, or a casualty, to the risk of infection

 

[pothunter]

Try trauma pads should be available from large chemists such as boots in various sizes. Don’t overlook the small sachets of saline for flushing out wounds

 

[Goose]

In civvi speak they are ambulance dressings and come in various sizes.
The full size first field dressing is huge, if you need more than one you are in real trouble! I remember being told they hold a pint (possibly a litre!)of blood. Tampons are reccomended for gunshot and puncture wounds, they expand and fill the gap, they work differently to field dressings. Remember the primary job of a dressing is to apply direct pressure the absorbing and covering are secondary jobs.

 

[Eric_Methven]

For those of you that have first aid kits with you whilst you are out, is there a civillian alternative to the army field dressing?

Go to any decent supermarket and buy a packet of sanitary towels. They're sterile and are designed to absorb blood. To use, apply to wound (after cleaning) and cover with normal bandage.

Eric

 

[maverix]

Sanitary towels and gaffer tape

Altho' in my experience when working with groups they tend to view that as a bit "blue peter"

 

[swamp donkey]

Do you have a problem with having a field dressing?

There are actually 3 sizes of field dressing on issue to the British Army and have been since at least 1970. They are very cheap as far as I can see and do the job.The small size is more versatile.
I would steer away from ambulance dressings because they are often very densly packed and can be a pain to unpack properly when required. Also the bandage attached is often not up to much. More often than not you find yourself riping of the attached bandage and using a crepe,
Sanitary towels do a good job espesially some of the posh ones as they have a nostick surface and dont leak. These can be held on with a crepe bandage which gives much better conformity . Cling film also does a good job.

hope this helps.

 

[Goose]

Do you have a problem with having a field dressing?

There are actually 3 sizes of field dressing on issue to the British Army and have been since at least 1970. They are very cheap as far as I can see and do the job.The small size is more versatile.
I would steer away from ambulance dressings because they are often very densly packed and can be a pain to unpack properly when required. Also the bandage attached is often not up to much. More often than not you find yourself riping of the attached bandage and using a crepe,
Sanitary towels do a good job espesially some of the posh ones as they have a nostick surface and dont leak. These can be held on with a crepe bandage which gives much better conformity . Cling film also does a good job.

hope this helps.

I broke open a standard field dressing, for training luckily, and found it was two half size dressings. That surprised me but what surprised me the most was the date of manufacture,1944! This was in the eighties but still 40 years old!

 

[Zodiak]

Sanitary towels and gaffer tape

Altho' in my experience when working with groups they tend to view that as a bit "blue peter"

I agree they work really well, and take a section of cleaned plastic coke bottle cut into a sheet to tape over the pad if its going to get wet.

Definatley Blue Peter, but it works.

 

[nickg]

Not dirt cheap but the real stuff from the British Red Cross shop. This is purpose designed for First Aid. Check out the shop
http://www.redcross.org.uk/shop/subsection.asp?id=58507
it should be here somewhere.

Cheers Nick

 

[Boosh]

Cheers for the replys everyone, for now i've done the sanitary towel thing. Always have gaffa tape in my bag anyway.

Funnily enough i am sporting a gaffa tape ankle brace as we speak! Had my ankle bones and ligaments rebuilt after an incident in Crossmaglen which left me with a very weak ankle, need to wear an ankle brace permanently.

I've been waiting for a new brace for a while now and last night my ankle sprained and it pulled a couple of bits of bone off, so i did a makeshift ankle brace with gaffa tape and it works a treat!

Boosh.

 

[garbo]

my fav is steri strips, I have seen them close some real serious cuts. they take up zero space, but they do need a pad on top to keep things clean.
the straight ones are best you can't place the butterfly shaped ones close enough together just pull wound edges together with them a bit like stick on stitches
hope you never need any of this stuff

Garry

 

[kram245]

Crepe bandages have been mentioned, we used to carry one with every field dressing. The idea being that you can get more direct pressure on the wound ,using this to tie on the shell dressing, instead of the attached bandage type ties, which act as a tourniquet.
mark

 

[Brian]

Mark,

I do the same mate, carry a crepe bandage with every FFD, tear off the ties and use the bandage to secure the pad of the FFD in place, gives more even pressure over the area

Brian

 

[robadams]

Don't be tempted to buy any large military dressings. They are designed to deal with some serious injuries.
The small military dressing is fine for most things. As has already been said, triangular bandages are cheap, versatile and do a great job. Remember, you are not trying to soak up lots of blood but applying pressure to the wound and allowing a clot to form in the dressing to stem the flow of blood.
Don't be too concerned about infection, you are preventing loss of blood in order to save life. The hospitals will clean out the wound and use antibiotics to deal with any infection.
Try improvising dressings with what you carry. sods law says that in an emergency you will be no where near a first aid kit. Learn to use what is to hand.

Rob

 

[303Brit]

The advice here is sound,pressure being the main thing on a wound.Better invest in a First Aid Course to learn what you really need and where you can improvise.Though if you can,try getting hold of the US Forces FFD,slightly more compact than the Brit. FFD( not saying its better).less bulky in the pocket.