Who already really needed his First Aid Kit?

[Erbswurst]

I would be interested to learn who really needed his first aid kit when camping, hiking and using bushcraft tools.

I don't want to talk here about, that it is surely sensible to carry such a kit for expeditions to the end of the world, and I am not interested to read who managed to hurt himself in the own household, in his shed or garden or workshop. And traffic accidents do not interest me here as well.

I mean, what really happened to you, your friends and family when hiking and camping.

I ask this, because I assume, that the first aid kit entered the civil packing lists by copying military pack orders and isn't needed in 99,9 % of all civil bushcraft cases. And I assume that if somebody used his first aid kit outdoors he also could have managed the situation without it.

I don't want to read here your thoughts about what could happen. I want to know, what really did happen.

 

[MrEd]

Most recently was last summer, a ?broken ankle after a fall hiking.

SAM splint, bandage, distal circulation checks, kept them warm and waited for an ambulance to arrive. They were fine.

 

[TLM]

On my longer hikes I have got blisters or starting ones somewhere in my feet nearly always. Meaning 3M Micropore tape is used hopefully before full blisters develop, I also carry an antiseptic salve for blister prevention (beeswax, olive oil, tee tree oil). So far that's the worst. On longer hikes I also use gloves more often just to prevent smaller accidental scratches.

 

[Jared]

As part of the Ramblers back in the day, don't think saw anyone injured.

But working with groups outdoors with hand tools...

Almost took off the side of my thumb and nail with a Yorkshire billhook. Just ended going direct to local A&E and getting several stitches.

A kid once hit his mate in the wrist swinging a billhook, fortunately missed anything critical. Just used gloves, pressure and elevation. Got him to A&E.

Lass using a bow saw had her hand along side it on the branch she was cutting. Bow saw hopped as they tend to do starting a cut, and she dragged it across the back of her hand. Just a minor cut, cleaned and bandaged.

 

[fenix]

Did hit my hand with a rather sharp axe, sort of glancing blow along a knuckle and finger. But first aid kit wise I just held the wobbly bit in place and applied a lint free dressing, and replaced that a few times until it stopped bleeding, a carrier bag was handy to contain the blood and dressings until I got it sewed up.

At work had to deal with somebody that ran a router over his hand, unfortunately not the networking kind. Again it was lots of dressings, and some tape.

My first aid kits mainly contain dressings and tape. Have added some trauma bandages to my car kit.

 

[SCOMAN]

Cuts, muscle tear, burn, blisters, ticks and splinters. I’m also mindful to prepare for risks despite training and experience. I’m usually alone so I do carry a trauma bandage and a tourniquet and am trained to use both.

 

[Stew]

 

[Stew]

Saw through the thumb. Steristripped and strapped.

 

[Stew]

Burst varicose vein at high pressure.

 

[Stew]

30ft rock climbing fall with cut head for immediate patching and immobilised until mountain rescue arrived.

 

[Stew]

Check out the various mountain rescue reports. There are plenty.

 

[Broch]

You're missing the point; I carry a good first aid kit so that I don't need it

Like Scoman, I'm working in the woods on my own so have a full trauma kit and did the forestry extension to the first aid course last year. I have used my FAK on some quite nasty cuts, and for sprains, on other people in the past.

 

[MrEd]

Burst varicose vein at high pressure.

whihc bleeds a huge amount, looks much much worse than it is! I saw a lady catch one on a shelf in s upermarket a few years back, you would think there had been multiple murders!!

 

[Broch]

Yep, my Mother in law had a burst varicose vein in her leg all over the carpet of the house that my wife and I were renting; cost us our deposit

As you say, you'd think a single person couldn't hold that much blood!

 

[Silverclaws2]

Blisters, ticks and gorse thorns mainly, thorns of which I saw plenty of last time I was out on the moor through oddly falling over , not once, but thrice, stiff hips I expect, that and an insecure load swinging about.

 

[Stew]

whihc bleeds a huge amount, looks much much worse than it is! I saw a lady catch one on a shelf in s upermarket a few years back, you would think there had been multiple murders!!

It was quite impressive spraying a good foot at 90 degrees from the cut!

 

[Erbswurst]

That's generally a problem in first aid.
A bit blood makes a huge lake.
People are shocked about it.

 

[Broch]

Yep, on one course I was on years ago the instructor started by pouring 1 pint of red fluid over the floor to shock us - in just a minute it had spread far and wide

 

[Stew]

Yep, on one course I was on years ago the instructor started by pouring 1 pint of red fluid over the floor to shock us - in just a minute it had spread far and wide

That's a great idea!

 

[John Fenna]

I always take at least one FAC with me when out in the woods. I always keep my training current. I have rarely had to use the FAC (but when I did IREALLY needed it) but with the training I actually brought one casualty back from "flat line" to spontaneous output" (ie "raised the dead") OK he only lasted a few days in hospital but it seemed a neat trick at the time!
As with bushcraft, in practice having the skills outweighs having the kit - but having kit you know and trust makes it all much easier!