First Aid kits suck

[dzzz]

Yes. My error, I meant 81 mg. I never heard of taking 324 mg. and thought it was 81 mg for chest pain or as a preventive measure. Actually, I thought the whole preventive measure thing went away.

I think it was 81 for chest pain at one time. 324 is just the latest guess for chest pains. I noticed the red cross kit referenced above contains 2x 81mg. They probably consider that two doses and are till using the old guidelines.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I use Adventure Medical Kits of various sizes. I'm also riding buds with a few of the guys at AMK and have picked their brains on what goes into the item selection of their kits. They say, most kits are designed to treat one particular emergency on the scene, but don't provide much in the way of supplies to keep that injury treated for long. So, even with a $100 kit, you can treat one nasty burn, one ugly cut, one gnarly wound....once.

I usually have to augment my kits with additional supplies. For example, the kit I keep in the car for mountain bike trips is full of supplies for gnarly cuts and broken bones, for one initial treatment. Far different from my backpacking kit which might have enough supplies to treat an injury for multiple days.

I have also noticed that most kits are full of items many people don't know how to use.

 

[brentbba]

What happened to the 86 mg thing? Must I constantly pay attention?

81mg is for a daily regimen.

As a heart attack survivor - I carry aspirin in all my vehicles!

Regarding purchased first aid kits. I started with one and just added to it with a lot of stuff that's been mentioned - more bandaids, wraps, iodine, etc. Fills a small box now. I even have a couple of small pieces of wood to use as splints if necessary and a snake bit kit - almost came in handy a few weeks ago out in the desert - said a quick hello and goodbye to a rattlesnake! All this stuff accumulated during my years in scouting.

 

[shogun]

The problem of course is what type injuries to plan for. Unfortunately, any kit that is vehicle-borne should be capable of responding to vehicular accidents also, which is anything up to severe trauma. Its not just the hiking at destination you are concerned with, but the to/from also.

Without getting into the whole scenario arguement, I'll throw out a few items to consider;

kerlix (large)
combine dressings
sponges
steri-strips
non-adhering dressing
"emergency bandage" trauma compression

iodine swabs
ammonia inhaler
hydrocortisone cream
AB ointment
norfloxacin
betadine
hemostatic agent (quick clot)
aspirin
ibuprophin

tweezers
hemostat
needle to treat pneumothorax
ascherman chest seal

The other big issue is expected time to treatment facility. Longer times require more involved supplies. You'll find most medical professionals incapable of dealing with scenarios much longer than a couple hours.

Then we get into regional rules such as prescription only access, which severely clouds clinical advice.

 

[1leglance]

Don't forget a empty syringe and plastic tip or blunt needle for high pressure wound cleaning.
Sure people say you can make a wound irrigation setup out of baggies, or water bottles or whatever, but we are talking a care kit, I would hope you can fit a 20ml syringe in there. Nothing beats it.

Rolls of Kerlex are way better than individually wrapped 4x4's, you cut off what you need or just use the entire roll as packing.

A couple of rolls of clothe medical tape, or duct tape.

Trauma shears are super handy.

Epi-pen if you are in a group as someone might learn of a NEW allergy and that just plain sucks.

Training, Training, Training.....never enough and playing "what if" when on the trail or at home is beyond valuable.

And please check your kit now and then! Nothing is worse than needing something only to find that heat/cold/kids have ruined your supplies.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Epi-pen if you are in a group as someone might learn of a NEW allergy and that just plain sucks.

.

When I guiding mountain bike tours in the Alps one of my clients was eating lunch under a tree and said, "hey, I think a bee just stu......" Clunk. It was crazy how quickly he deteriorated. That was my first exposure to an Epi-pen. Worth its weight in gold.

 

[dzzz]

............ They say, most kits are designed to treat one particular emergency on the scene, but don't provide much in the way of supplies to keep that injury treated for long. ............

That was one of the main points I didn't make particularly clear. Perhaps not practical in smaller vehicles but bringing bulk quantities in things like bandages in doable in larger vehicles.

 

[GroupSe7en]

Commercial first aid kits are, for the most part, fairly useless if you are more than a few hours away from a hospital. More important by far than a med kit is med training.
Knowing how and having nothing is much better than knowing nothing and having everything.

 

[UK4X4]

when you guys mention epi pens - what chemical is it and what dose for
a severe alergic re-action ?

My indiginous latino wife has developed a selection of alergies here in the middle east.

Including alergic asthma.

We have had some worrying attack's that the inhalers have managed to control- and 1 hospital treatment for the worst one.

While we were in the US and latin america nothing touched her, even imune to mozy bites.

Her indiginous genes protected her.........here even the dust gives her rashes !

 

[Deleted member 9101]

A recent first aid discussion got me thinking about how much even large, expensive pre-made kits suck. I suppose it's a combination of needing to be very general, and keeping costs low.

Maybe first responder kits are better, but these are also different than what I need.
I'm thinking in particular about kits for larger vehicles on longer trips away from convenient support. The reality of 99% of bush first aid is comfort, preventing a small problem from becoming big, and handling problems without needing to travel for help.

What I find missing is:
-Lots of bandages and wraps - The whole bandaging and wrapping supplies are woefully deficient. There's a big difference in the comfort of a well wrapped wound and bandaging that is improvised and just enough.
-Narcotic painkiller and general purpose antibiotic. Obviously not part of a purchased kit, but I've always been able to carry both in prescription bottles. My dentist tells me that an antibiotic course will handle tooth pain from infection for about two weeks. Much better option than finding a dentist on a Sunday night in Nigeria.
- Wound cleaning supplies for running water. The kits don't assume running water, and have less effective waterless cleaning materials.
- Skin care, including bug and sunburn, can usually be improved substantially. Zinc Oxide is a really good protective substance that sometimes doesn't have a good substitute.
- A big bottles of pepto bismol. I assume most people know to start dosing this stuff for gastrointestinal distress while traveling. I don't want to count on enough being available in the general "medicine cabinet".
- Individually wrapped Q-tips
- a regular strength aspirin for that guy with chest pains
- good burn comfort supplies, including gel pads

The bad: 1)Triple antibiotic ointment instead of Bacitracin. 2)"Night Tme Cold Medicine". The former is an allergen to some people. The later causes psychological distress in some people.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but what I've found wrong with purchased kits

I'm not sure how most people do it, but I now keep a stocked Pelican first aid kit. I don't mix first aid supplies with what I think of as "medicine cabinet stuff" - Alleve, antacid pills, Sponge Bob bandages. I do better with keeping a true first aid kit stocked.

So that's my rant and my list.

All ya need is 3" tape, an elastic bandage, and Kerlix.... that will fix all the bleeding you will veer encounter.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

when you guys mention epi pens - what chemical is it and what dose for
a severe alergic re-action ?

My indiginous latino wife has developed a selection of alergies here in the middle east.

Including alergic asthma.

We have had some worrying attack's that the inhalers have managed to control- and 1 hospital treatment for the worst one.

While we were in the US and latin america nothing touched her, even imune to mozy bites.

Her indiginous genes protected her.........here even the dust gives her rashes !

epinephrine 0.3-0.5 Mg if I remember right.

 

[BIGdaddy]

I struggle with exactly what a good FA kit should include. I have been a paramedic in Los Angeles for over 20 years and in all honesty when i am out in the back country I don't carry a FA kit unless I am with my kids and then it's only because of a few allergies my son has so it includes a few amps of epi.

In the back country I make sure I have a roll of medical cloth tape or duct tape and that is about it aside from my own prescribed meds. Tape is good for cuts both large and small, can be used with a improvised splint, cut into butterfly band aids... the list goes on. If I am on a long climbing trip and there is a incident with severe trauma then time is really the best tool in your kit, hence my use of a SPOT device and HAM or cell phone if they will work.

Traumatic full arrest is essentially a dead body unfortunetly and CPR is pretty much done in vain.

It's amazing just what can be done with a simple roll of duct tape or cloth medical tape.

that's interesting. I was a firefighter and I honestly take the same approach.

-paper tape. -check
-duct tape. -check
-princess band-aids -check
-tweezers/scissors via swiss army knife -check
-bandages? shirt off someone's back -check
-(1-2) epi pens -check (my oldest)
-prescription meds
-multitool w/ pliers and knife - check

 

[Deleted member 9101]

-princess band-aids -check

I go with the little mermaid, or star bright.

 

[shogun]

when you guys mention epi pens - what chemical is it and what dose for
a severe alergic re-action ?

Adult (over 66lb) 0.3mg
child 0.15mg

may need a second for severe

 

[dzzz]

I go with the little mermaid, or star bright.

It's risky to ignore the special healing powers of sponge bob band aides. But all of these types are good to make friends wear when they get an boo boo.