First Aid Kit?

Nic Ramirez

Nic Ramirez

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Joined
Apr 17, 2003
Messages
1,889
Hey guys.

Any recommendations on a quality First Aid Kit for the disaster relief bag? It should support 3-5 people in an array of categories.

Any ideas? Just seems there are so many out there I was wondering what makes one better than another?
 
If you know them, the special needs of the primary people that will be using the kit, should be included in the kit. Things like any non perishable prescription medications or over the counter meds that they use. Talk to your doc and see what he/she can do to help with you getting certain items that are the prescription strength of commonly used otc meds that are for pain, topical use, etc. Add meds like Ibuprofen, Benedryl, Imodium AD, Pepto, cold/flu/cough/sore throat meds that you usually use. Make sure to include any special instructions in the kit so that anyone getting into it knows everything they need to know about the kit and it's contents, including uses of the different items and also include a basic first aid book.

If money is an issue, then take the list of items from Doc Blues kit and see what they'd cost you to buy individually and build a kit on paper. My experience is that some of the ready made kits will cost you more than if you put the kit together yourself, or you may find a very similar kit that only needs a couple of items added and is a good enough buy to go with it. There are also ready made military type of kits that are less money, but can be used as a comparison to other kits out there. Majors Surplus FAKs has a variety of kits from large to small that you can add into your comparisons, but also some of the more specialized items that you may want to pick up and add to your kit when you've decided on it.
 
i think that you need to develop what type of kit that you would need, to me a first aid kit is meant to help with some minor injuries and illnesses that tyou might need to deal with on a temporary basis so it needs to be light weight, very portable. untill you could get to definative help. a disaster relief bag would need to be much more comprihensive in that help may be unavailable and or transport time may be prolonged. a disaster relief kit would need to be able to be self sufficient for a period of time. and as such is much less portable and bulky. so the type of kit is dependant on what you situation you would find yourself in. in california you would need an earthquake kit with splints for broken bones, bandage material, and items that you would used to care for multiple injured people. on the east coast we dont anticipate that type of need. so kits developed would be different in scope and antcipated treatment.

alex
 
Nic,
Your question is quite a bit to vague and open ended to be properly answered. We would need to know more about the number and ages of the people involved,any pre-existing health problems,the type and duration of the situation you expect to have to deal with and most importantly your medical skill level.
I have been in pre-hospital emergency medicine for 20 + years. I'm going to be able to take advantage of a much more advanced kit than the average person. I've seen all to often families who are trying to be prepared, end up with a med kit containing stuff they don't fully understand or really never needed in the first place. Of course this hasn't come cheap.
Most pre-packaged kits I've seen are crap ! They contain too much...Too little... and don't need. And has already been mentioned, often at a higher price than if you had purchased the same items seperately.
Start with the basics:
Bleeding control- Various size gauze pads and wraps,Band Aids,Tape.
Wound care- Mild soap Anti-Biotic ointment.
Eye care- a couple bottles of eye flush.
Scissors, Tweezers, Magnifying glass
Over-the-counter medications:
Analgesics- Ibuprofen, Asprin, Tylenol for pain and fever.
Anti-Diarrheal- Imodium AD etc.
Cough,Cold,Flu,Allergy Remedies you are familiar with.
Ice or Ice paks
Add a good First Aid course and Manual.
Hope this helps
Good Luck
Allan
 
The most important item in your first aid kit is the training and experience you possess. The best first aid kit is self asssembled, based on your knowledge and situation.

The recommended $300 + FAK is horrendously overpriced for its contents, although the container would probably work quite well in an outdoors situation.
 
Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I think I like the idea of buying a medium to large (stay at home) kit from Cheaper than Dirt and stripping it down and rebuilding it to my needs.

My Needs:

Support for 3-5 people: I have a household of 2 and would like the option for slightly extended capabilities. Neither my wife nor I have any major health concerns that need regular maintenance.

Ideally able to cover a general range of conditions: (In no particular order)

1. Blood Loss (Quick Clot? Pads)
2. Burn Relief (Cream, Gauze)
3. Wound Dressing (Minor and Major bandage applications, Tape)
4. Sterilization (Iodine, Rubbing Alcohol, [What’s better isopropyl or ethanol?])
5. Analgesics (Tylenol, Asprin)
6. Allergy Relief (Hmm undecided)
7. Tourniquet (Any Recommendations?)
8. Wound suture (Any Recommendations?)
9. Anti-Diarrhea
10. Cold Relievers
11. A practical Field Manual (Any Recommendations?)

I’m not a doctor by any means. I’m simply an individual that realizes that he may be the most qualified and prepared within a household (with/without guests). The kit is being assembled with the intention of providing potential life saving capabilities until those more qualified than I have a chance to respond.

I would very much like to take a first aid course and build my kit from there. I am constructing this kit in the mean time as I believe that I will learn a lot. There is always room for improvement.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. However, I would like to keep the kit grounded. I will not need surgical equipment for removing a lung etc.
 
Question: Is Quikclot the same as Bleed-X/ DraumaDex?


RE original question: Keep in mind that we already have many items in our homes that can serve as wound dressings, splints, and other First Aid supplies if necessary (e.g., clothes, wire hangars, wood, styrofoam, electrical and duct tape), esp. in a "disaster relief" context. Always good to have a healthy supply of proper items (e.g., bandages, gauze, burn wraps, etc.), but no point in going overboard. Some "wilderness" medicine knowledge is probably good to have, along with First Aid training proper, as one might not be able to count on a swift response in the case of a disaster. I like the book included with Adventure Medical's kits, "A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine" by Eric Weiss, but others may have better suggestions. (Good advice in Weiss's book, e.g., how to safety-pin a victim's tongue to his lower lip, to keep the air passageway open ...!)

We all probably also have plenty of ice, water, scissors, pillows, blankets, and presumably the means to make shelter and sterilize materials should our homes suffer structural damage and/or the local power/water supply goes out for a few days. I keep some supplies of this sort (inside an ice chest for ice), and a modest First Aid kit, in the coat closet by my front door for easy access. They aren't very useful if they are stuck upstairs in a structurally unsound building.

And, as with any kit, it's important to get in the habit of checking and restocking items nearing expiration, like pain killers, prescriptions, ointments, and the like. (I have a reminder in my Palm Pilot to check every 6 months.)

My 2¢ --
Glen
 
I'll list off what the Marines get issued out here. The personal kits include iodine, band-aids, an empty pill bottle (to carry stuff the corpsmen give out), a field dressing, gauze, tape, and a few other minor first-aid things. As a combat lifesaver, I carry around a "Unit One" bag. It includes a number of dressings (including a couple for abdominal wounds), an IV with catheter, tubing and bag, a tourniquet, airways, gauze, tape, and rubber gloves. I've added painkillers, cold medicine, and cough drops myself. The other guys in my platoon look to me as the combat lifesaver (I've spent a lot of time at medical training), and they know I have painkillers, cold medicine, etc.
 
1. Blood Loss (Quick Clot? Pads)
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You can't go wrong having a packet or two of QuikClot. Just learn how it's used and its limitations before you have to use it.

I'd also recommend a couple of these as well. Buy an extra one so you can tear it open right away to familiarize yourself with its design and usage.

The bare minimum you should have, though, especially if space/weight and cost are concerns, is a couple of large sterile gauze pads. 4x4s should do it; if you need them for a smaller wound you can cut them down, but you can't make the smaller pads any bigger. Once you put the sterile barrier of a clean new gauze pad over the wound, you can add whatever is available (towels, your shirt, etc.) on top of it to soak up the excess blood without too much worry of introducing more germs into the wound.

5. Analgesics (Tylenol, Asprin)
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Try Percogesic. It's somewhat hard to find, but it works quite well. It can be found at Rite Aid and Medicine Shoppes here in the states. Other pharmacies gave me blank stares. I wasn't even able to find it quickly on the net. It's kind of expensive, though, about $8 for 50 pills at both places. Medicine Shoppe sells their own brand of it for only a few bucks, but I haven't tried it yet. I intend to once my supply runs out.

Aspirin is good to have in case of heart attacks.

I've never been impressed with tylenol. I use Aleve or Percogesic.


6. Allergy Relief (Hmm undecided)
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Benadryl antihistamine comes highly recommended. Or try the generic/off-brands (it's diphenhydramine, quite a few different off-brands of it are available. I have not personally done any testing on this, as I don't really have allergies.)

7. Tourniquet (Any Recommendations?)
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In a thread I started on tourniquets a couple weeks ago, alco141 made the excellent suggestion of using a blood pressure cuff as a tourniquet. I pass this on because that's exactly what a blood pressure cuff is. It's wide enough to not cause undue tissue damage beneath the cuff, and it can be applied and inflated with one hand (an excellent feature if your other hand happens to be mangled or severed or something).


8. Wound suture (Any Recommendations?)
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You don't need sutures. I wouldn't even waste the kit space. Get Steristrips or butterfly closures, and if you have money to burn, get some dermabond (I'm told that J&J liquid bandage is basically the same as dermabond. I think I've seen it at Wal-Mart, but I didn't read the package at the time. I will have to look into this. Superglue will do in a pinch, but it burns and it's not as safe). That's all you really need, and they're much easier and safer to use if you're not highly trained in proper suture application. You can even use medical tape or even strips of duct tape to approximate the edges of a wound. I'd lay a thin strip of gauze over the wound itself if you're using something that's adhesive all the way across so you can remove it if you have to without automatically ripping the wound edges open again. Try to keep the area clean and just leave it alone once the strips are in place, though.
 
The "Doc Blue" FAK is seriously overpriced, and whoever wrote the copy needs to learn to proofread.

Take a look at any of the larger FAK manufacturers, see what they put in kits, then come up w/ a list of items, including any specialty items you may like to have.

Go down the list & toss items that you don't know how to use.

My kit at home is extensive, the kit I carry in the car has only a few things:
Wound Irrigant/Eye Wash, CPR mask, a couple of triangular bandages, and a ton of gauze.

Suturing/Stapling is usually not necessary (and can lead to serious infection in field environments), a little tincture of benzoin & some steri-strips will usually close up most wounds. Steri-Strips are somewhat expensive, but worth the cost, IMO. Butterfly bandages would work here as well.

Campmor sells a "house brand" FAK similar to the Adventure Medical Kits, but at about half the cost. It looks like a decent kit, and you could always start there & modify it to your tastes.

A word on dermabond - it doesn't work all that well on significant lacerations - you're still better off w/ steri-strips.

Best of all - get some training - First aid, first responder, EMT, etc...

Sam
 
I have to disagree with with the idea of a blood presure cuff as a torniquet(TK). While in a hospitial a BP cuff can work as a TK that is a very controlled situation. In the pre- hospitial enviroment it has some major drawbacks:
BP cuffs are desinged to fit an adult upper arm, while there is some measure of adjustment available, they often won't fit where the TK is needed ie. lower arm, thigh.
The BP cuff is held together with velcro, when pumped to a level that cuts of blood flow, the velcro starts to seperate. This is componded by water,mud, blood,wear etc.
BP cuffs lose pressure and require constant monitoring to keep the pressure suffcient.
Bp cuffs have a bad habit of sliding off during when moving the patient.
BP cuffs have rubber tubes that hang off and get caught on things.
And they are just not size/weight/use efficient for a small kit.
You are much better off with cloth bandage and a stick.
Allan
 
SurviveAl said:
I have to disagree with with the idea of a blood presure cuff as a torniquet(TK). While in a hospitial a BP cuff can work as a TK that is a very controlled situation. In the pre- hospitial enviroment it has some major drawbacks:
BP cuffs are desinged to fit an adult upper arm, while there is some measure of adjustment available, they often won't fit where the TK is needed ie. lower arm, thigh.
The BP cuff is held together with velcro, when pumped to a level that cuts of blood flow, the velcro starts to seperate. This is componded by water,mud, blood,wear etc.
BP cuffs lose pressure and require constant monitoring to keep the pressure suffcient.
Bp cuffs have a bad habit of sliding off during when moving the patient.
BP cuffs have rubber tubes that hang off and get caught on things.
And they are just not size/weight/use efficient for a small kit.
You are much better off with cloth bandage and a stick.
Allan
Click to expand...

All very good points.

You'll have a hell of a time applying a conventional tourniquet on yourself if one arm/hand is injured. That's why I'm still looking for one that's designed to be applied with one hand.
 
Bodyhammer said:
You'll have a hell of a time applying a conventional tourniquet on yourself if one arm/hand is injured. That's why I'm still looking for one that's designed to be applied with one hand.
Click to expand...

You can use a belt. Also, it's actually not that difficult or time-consuming to tie a triangle bandage as a tourniquet; try it.
 
Nic,

Lots of good ideas given. In response to some of your questions to wound care: avoid a tourniquet, especially using a BP cuff (you'd be better off actually using it as intended), an alternative is the basic principles of pressure/elevation/etc and using regular gauze dressings and an ACE for compression. For irrigation studies have shown the use of tap water in simple injuries applied with pressure and volume work just fine (syringe/squeeze bottle/super soaker....). Avoid the closure of a field injury. The harm which could come from doing it wrong far outweighs the benefits. Besides, pt compliance is hard without lidocaine! :D Just clean and cover.
 
As a long time Paramedic, let me say if you can skip the first aid course and take an EMT course. You will learn so much more that can be used to your benefit. That Doc blues kit should come with a free ED visit for that price.
 
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