If nothing else was available and I needed it urgently, yes.
But if I noticed it was damaged/open prior to needing it, I’d get it replaced.
Home first aid kit
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If nothing else was available and I needed it urgently, yes.
But if I noticed it was damaged/open prior to needing it, I’d get it replaced.
Compared to what immediate option?
( Didn;t see Chris comment - but echos my own thought process )
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It's an interesting consideration, because I seem to recall watching a vid from Nick Goldsmith on Hidden Valley Bushcraft (at least I think it was, rather than his current channel) talking about this sort of thing, and the first thing he did with his Israeli bandage was open it and reroll it with the absorbent pad outwards. Speed and accessibility were more important to him than how perfectly sterile it was.
My own feeling is similar to Chris and TD. If a clean dressing in clean packaging, albeit open, is the worst option, the gods are being pretty generous.
My own feeling is similar to Chris and TD. If a clean dressing in clean packaging, albeit open, is the worst option, the gods are being pretty generous.
Ambulance response times are a very pertinent point, and long waits are not confined to rural areas any more.....
About 3 years ago (IIRC), my elderly mother-in-law fell. Suspected hip fracture. An elderly lady in her late 80's was sitting in the cold (it was winter), in pain. It took something like 6 hours for an ambulance to arrive, and another 4 hours waiting in the ambulance at the hospital. This wasn't a rural location; it was a town which is less than 10 miles from Cardiff- a significant city.
Conclusion I came to is that if you are having a heart attack or bleeding out, there's a reasonable chance an ambulance will get to you within half an hour or maybe less- even in a town. A stroke- perhaps you will get a response in an hour or so. Serious RTC- again probably a fairly rapid response.
Anything else, and prepare to be on your own for several hours, even in an urban area. Indeed, you might get a faster response in a rural area.....
OK, maybe you will get lucky and it could be (a lot) less, but don't bank on it. If you or a loved on has falllen and has a suspected fracture, be prepared to wait several hours for help. It could be cold and wet- hypothermia may be a real risk whilst waiting for an ambulance.
If it's less serious and you can get to A&E, be prepared for a 8 hour wait to be seen. Again, it may be less, but waiting 6-8 hours to be seen is no longer exceptional in some areas. (Maybe worth checking in advance the waiting time stats in your area).
GC
It would be situational dependent and I would assess everything and make the best judgment I can at the time. The obvious answer though is that if there is an unopened sterile dressing available then I would use that first. If there is no better clean alternative item available to use as a bandage I would still be fairly happy to use a pre-opened bandage so long as it looked clean.
Now the grey area… If the bandage was clearly dirty and my wound was only superficial then I would probably not use it rather than risk getting the wound infected and making things worse. If the wound was serious enough (such as bleeding profusely from a large gaping hole or spurting from an artery) that it would likely cause rapid unconsciousness or death due to massive blood loss then I would be willing to use anything, even if there was nothing clean available, as a bandage to stop the blood flow as quickly as possible as that is the immediate risk to life. I would then deal with any infection and cleaning the wound afterwards once the blood loss was safely under control.
This does however bring up the important issue of cleaning and sterilising a wound first to make sure it does not get infected before applying a clean bandage. An extra item which I keep in my first aid kits along with the usual assortment of sterile gloves and antiseptic wipes is a large 50ml syringe. If you get a serious wound which requires the use of a bandage it was likely to have been caused by something dirty such as a dog bite, a kitchen knife with food residue on it or some rusty barbed wire etc. This is likely to leave a lot of dirty small contaminants in the wound which will need to be removed first before you apply the bandage. The reason I have a large 50ml syringe in my first aid kit is so that it can be used to flood the wound with high pressure clean water to quickly wash any small bits of contaminants out of the wound. (I learned this trick from an educational youtube video made by a US marine who is also a qualified field surgeon who does first aid and survival/bushcraft courses).
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I keep a regular St John’s first aid book by my first aid kit at home but on the book shelf elsewhere in the house I also have a copy The Survival Medicine Handbook which is a very different kind of medical manual to your usual first aid books. Most first aid books are exactly that - FIRST aid. They are written to help you keep someone stable for the short time until professional help arrives and can take over.
But what do you if professional help isn't coming for several hours, days or possibly even longer? Well that's when the The Survival Medicine Handbook can be used. It provides practical advice and information for the average person who has no medical training to help them deal with a wide range of both minor and serious medical issues and injuries when you are totally on you own and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future but you still need medial advice. It covers most situations from various minor ailments right the way up to how to care for serious illnesses or major wound care. In some cases it even shows you how to perform life saving surgery when immediate action is necessary to save someone’s life!
It’s a book I prey I will never need to use. I hope it continues gathering dust on the bookshelf and will never need to be opened but it’s still reassuring to know it is there as insurance just in case.
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Is that syringe packaged and sterile? For mountain biking I carry sterile water in the little plastic tubes that can be used to irrigate and wash a wound. Depending on the wound you could actually end up washing contaminates into the wound from the surrounding area. You would also need permission from the person you were doing this to and provide a valid reason why - in a first aid context they would as soon possible seek proper medical attention. I can’t see someone being that keen for you to squirt lots of water into a flapping wound with the potential to soak them in the process and spread lots of blood and the like around the place.
On my first aid courses it was made very clear that washing a graze, gravel rash or minor ‘cut’ was fine if you dried it and applied a plaster or dressing as a temporary measure. Irrigating a wound was best left to a hospital and the best thing to do was to immediately apply a dressing and stop the bleeding and promote clot formation. Then hand the person off to the professionals.
On my first aid courses it was made very clear that washing a graze, gravel rash or minor ‘cut’ was fine if you dried it and applied a plaster or dressing as a temporary measure. Irrigating a wound was best left to a hospital and the best thing to do was to immediately apply a dressing and stop the bleeding and promote clot formation. Then hand the person off to the professionals.
Yes it is sealed and sterile.
As to whether or not I would use it would be entirely situational dependent and I would make a judgement call at the time. Like yourself I have also done a basic first aid course and completely agree with you that in most situations it would be preferable to wait for a professional medic to clean and redress the wound again afterwards rather than attempt to do it myself.
However it is still nice to at least have the option for me to do it if necessary depending on what the ETA of professional help will be and the situation which is being dealt with.
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At home you can do what you like to yourself and loved ones!Yes it is sealed and sterile.
As to whether or not I would use it would be entirely situational dependent and I would make a judgement call at the time. Like yourself I have also done a basic first aid course and completely agree with you that in most situations and for most injuries it would be preferable to wait for a professional medic to clean and redress the wound again afterwards rather than attempt to do it myself.
However it is still nice to at least have the option for me to do it if necessary depending on what the ETA of professional help will be and the situation which is being dealt with.
If I was camping personally then I might wash a knife wound out and dress it with the knowledge I would seek medical help soonest but had time to pack things away and the like.
No they're not. Similarly to you I know a retired lady who had to wait 11 hours outdoors, with a broken hip when she fell.
My frail Mum has had better experience with ambulances being taken to hospital but the care she's received has been very variable. Once I was bullied into collecting her when she should have stayed in hospital. The next day I had to take her back to A&E and we waited for about 18 hours before they found a bed.
So, realistically I know you could be waiting for well over 12 hours with a serious injury and where we live there's one main route into the hospital which the council seems to like to close off for trivial reasons. Add in closures for an inch of snow and trees down it seems sensible to be able to do some basic patching at home.
I agree with training but I would regard a home first aid kit as being there for anyone in the house and perhaps having supplies that a remote person could advise in an emergency. I know my mum has prescription antibiotics kept at home for an emergency that she can be advised to take.
I have a couple of old TraumaFix dressings I'll be replacing like for like. I'll open up an old one and see what it's like. Some of the other dressings I've examined could do with a larger absorbent pad IMHO for home use where compactness isn't important, but I could buy a few extra plain pads to keep with them
Considering the woeful state of the NHS and the numerous stories I’ve heard in recent years about ambulances not turning up to emergencies for hours or even days I came to the conclusion that if anything ever happens there is a reasonable chance that we are going to be on our own to deal with the situation ourselves. At least for the first several hours or so. Bearing this in mind I decided to upgraded our cheap, basic first aid kit to a much larger and much more expensive professional grade one which came ready stocked with a wide range of high quality items included. I then added a few select extra items such as a packet of suture strips, a large 50ml syringe and two different sizes of self-adhesive TraumaFix dressings mentioned earlier in this thread.
Personally (and I do not recommend others do this) I also bought a few disposable scalpels and some very basic surgical tools too but we are in the unusual situation where my girlfriend has considerable medical knowledge and experience well above what any normal person would be expected to have. In my opinion having anything like a scalpel in your first aid box would be a highly questionable option for your average Joe but what you put into yours at home is up to you. Also separate to the first aid box elsewhere in the house I have some ibuprofen, aspirin, paracetamol, antibiotics and two different types of antihistamine tablets. My girlfriend also has a draw filled with a wide range of exotic essential oils which she regularly uses to make all sorts of weird and wonderful medicines and concoctions. Obviously giving anyone any kind of medicine or essential oils is not something which should be done lightly without first seeking proper professional advice. So again having any of these on hand is a highly questionable option for your average Joe unless you really know what you are doing.
I think that realistically taking a basic first aid course and gaining some basic knowledge and experience yourself is probably the single best thing you could do. Other than that just buy the best quality and most comprehensive first aid kit you can afford then add a few select extra items of your choice. Also getting both a regular First Aid book and also the Survival Medicine Handbook I mentioned earlier and you should have most bases covered well above what anyone can reasonably be expected to do. I mean what else could you realistically do short of going to medical school and having an operating theatre installed in your house.
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Just curious about your thinking behind this?
I only ask because I've got a few scalpels in my kit and it's something I would certainly recommend to others. To me, they seem like a very useful, but often overlooked addition.
The reason I included those disclaimers is because I do not want to be responsible for anyone who does not know what they are doing to attempt any kind surgery themselves which could make a situation worse or cause any kind of extra harm in any way. I am not medically trained or qualified so I am in no position (either legally or morally) to recommend anything like using a scalpel to other people.
I am not responsible for either yours nor anyone else actions and decisions. It is up to you to asses your own knowledge/skills and decide for yourself what items might be of benefit to you in your own situation. That is your decision to make and yours alone - not mine. I’m just sharing what we chose to do at our house and what works for us.
That said, I am definitely glad that we have scalpels in our first aid kit at home so that we have the option to use them if necessary. I think they are a tool which has the potential to come in useful in a wide range of different situations. We actually bought two different types of scalpels – one with curved round tips suitable for ‘opening up’ or making larger cuts and another one with sharp pointy tips better suited for more delicate or precise work.
I’m also glad that we have a range of basic medicines on hand at home but again I am in no position to recommend to other people that they should do the same as us. What you choose do yourself in your own home is you own decision and responsibility.
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The other question I guess reference Home First Aid kits is who else is expected to know how to use the contents?
You being the person whom has insisted upon and stocked a First Aid kit and invested some time and effort into some training so you are 'useful' are the primary care giver - but what if its you that requires the care? Fallen over , banged your head , big gash in your hand leaking Merlot all over the persian rug and wondering whom is going to give you care.
Not expecting the other half , partner , lodger to be a Florence Nightingale in the quiet - but I do see this as a potential issue. How can one encourage the idea that First Aid is a bit like a rota - its possible everyone has to do their bit and know the very basics to offer aid.
I find this can be a bit of a stumbling block in a relationship. Not that its some requirement to be super prepped and squared away in a militaesque fashion - but it would be nice to know someone is around whom cares for your welfare enough to read up and brush up on the basics.
I guess its one of those things where even the mildly interested whom don't know much know a whole lot more than those that are just not interested.
You being the person whom has insisted upon and stocked a First Aid kit and invested some time and effort into some training so you are 'useful' are the primary care giver - but what if its you that requires the care? Fallen over , banged your head , big gash in your hand leaking Merlot all over the persian rug and wondering whom is going to give you care.
Not expecting the other half , partner , lodger to be a Florence Nightingale in the quiet - but I do see this as a potential issue. How can one encourage the idea that First Aid is a bit like a rota - its possible everyone has to do their bit and know the very basics to offer aid.
I find this can be a bit of a stumbling block in a relationship. Not that its some requirement to be super prepped and squared away in a militaesque fashion - but it would be nice to know someone is around whom cares for your welfare enough to read up and brush up on the basics.
I guess its one of those things where even the mildly interested whom don't know much know a whole lot more than those that are just not interested.
Partly in response to TeeDee's point, as a single person on their own, I've always had a fairly random bunch of kit, and no training, in a specific marked big sewing box that opens out with lots of drawers. If I have an accident, and there have been a few, then I'm on my own to sort it.
Rolls of tape and scissors are ready, with a free tape end ready to grab one handed or with the teeth, and have proved their worth.
Rolls of tape and scissors are ready, with a free tape end ready to grab one handed or with the teeth, and have proved their worth.
Another couple of items which we have on hand at home that I forgot to mention is a 30ml bottle of Lugols 5% Iodine Solution and a couple of packets of Potassium Iodine tablets.
The Lugols 5% Iodine Solution is a liquid antiseptic solution which can be useful if ever you needed to wipe down and sterilize a large area quickly. It can also be used to sterilize any medical utensils before use.
This second item is a bit of a left field suggestion. But Potassium Iodine tablets could be useful if ever we are exposed to any kind of alpha or beta radiation poisoning. Obviously this would not be a concern to everyone but for those people like myself who live near to a nuclear power plant or military base which might be a possible target if everything ever went really pear shaped then a cheap packet of Potassium Iodine tablets may be worth your consideration. Sure they will probably never be needed but as they were so cheap to buy (less than a fiver for enough to cover two weeks worth of doses for two people) and they have a long shelf life of around a couple of decades I thought “why not” just in case.
The Lugols 5% Iodine Solution is a liquid antiseptic solution which can be useful if ever you needed to wipe down and sterilize a large area quickly. It can also be used to sterilize any medical utensils before use.
This second item is a bit of a left field suggestion. But Potassium Iodine tablets could be useful if ever we are exposed to any kind of alpha or beta radiation poisoning. Obviously this would not be a concern to everyone but for those people like myself who live near to a nuclear power plant or military base which might be a possible target if everything ever went really pear shaped then a cheap packet of Potassium Iodine tablets may be worth your consideration. Sure they will probably never be needed but as they were so cheap to buy (less than a fiver for enough to cover two weeks worth of doses for two people) and they have a long shelf life of around a couple of decades I thought “why not” just in case.
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Iodine is really useful stuff, worth carrying in the rucksack. I think the PI tablets are a sensible idea due to your location. The most likely risk is an onsite cock-up leading to local pollution and radioactive release, not world war.
There have been a number of incidents, and informing the public/actually cleaning up has always been slow, due as much to not knowing about the release or extent of it, as opposed to being reluctant to notify.
There have been a number of incidents, and informing the public/actually cleaning up has always been slow, due as much to not knowing about the release or extent of it, as opposed to being reluctant to notify.
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