Posted: 11/8/2009 8:54:50 AM EDT
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I have some money left over in our health savings account. I was thinking about making some comprehensive first aid kits for the the house, and two if not all three of the cars. I have about $200 or so to spend on all four. What would you get to put in one? Where is the best place to find some of the harder to find items?
Thanks for your patience with a rather rookie question. |
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This is the kit I carry when I go overseas with groups - I'm not a medic or anything - just have basic first-aid training from LEO and Military so a real medic might give you better info:
First Aid Kit Advil Airborne Aleve Aloe Vera Anebsol Bactine Band-aids plus fingers & knuckles Bayer Aspirin Benadryl Allergy Benadryl Insect Bite Pens Burn Cream Butterfly Strips Carmex Chigger Treatment Cough Drops Dramamine Feminine Products Gloves Glucose Tablets Gauze Bandages Hand Sanitizer Hand Warmers Ice Packs Icy Hot Patches Iodine Pads Imodium AD Tablets Joint Wrap Tape Lice Treatment Medical Tape Midol Moleskin Nyquil Off Penicillin Pepto Tablets Peroxide Safety Pins Scissors Snake Bite Kit Sudafed Sunscreen Super Glue Suture Kit Thermometer and covers Tiger Balm Trauma Bandage Tweezers Tylenol Tylenol Allergy Sinus Tylenol Cold and Sinus Vaseline Intensive Care Visine A/C |
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Keep it simple to stuff you know how to use.
All the supplies in the world wont help you if you dont know how to use it PROPERLY. Simple stuff like OTC meds and hemorage control items such as gauze, tapes, and bandages should suffice. Also any Prescription Meds you might be on just incase. Most important would be to get some medical training. If you can volunteer with a local first aid squad its a good way to get some trainig and experience for onyl the cost of your time. |
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You can get a lot of gear from all over.
Blue Force Gear Trauma NOW Kit $94.95 North American Rescue - A lot of products and you can really spend a bit but you're probably looking for the items on this page I also recommend looking at QuikClot (you can purchase or use for pricing) and add some hemostatic products to your kits. In a trauma situation being a non medical professional, you're likely to use more items than needed or spill through some. Take a look at the hemostatic products from QuikClot (there are others but they are who I know) and see if they come in a ready made kit you've already got form some other manufaturer. As a beginner in this field, getting a ready made kit is the best option because it comes with what you need to cover just about every likely eventuality that you could come across and be expected to treat and stabilize for further treatment. While you're at it, you could also devise a hasty stretcher and keep it stored whereever you feel necessary. If you have more questions fire away, PM or here. My medical backgaround is all through various Army Combat Lifesaver Courses and I've treated a few trauma victims (no GSWs or shrapnel) as well as other victims that required giving IVs. |
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Download the following file for solid info on which Hemostatic Agent you should be buying. (Here's a hint, it's not QuickClot)
Hemostatic Agent Study WoundStat was pulled from TCCC due to possible Pulmonary Embolism's. You can still get it through their Website. The order of treatment was if the the wound was not amenable to a Tourniquet then you used Combat Gauze, if the Combat Gauze would not work due to the nature of the wound, then you used WoundStat. Currently Combat Gauze is the agent of choice for TCCC. The PDF file attached for download highlights to effectiveness of WoundStat and Combat Gauze and the ineffectiveness of QuickClot ACS. The two important results are the Total Hemostasis Time (how long the Hemostatic Agent continued to work) and Total Blood Loss. Combat Gauze is made by Z-Medica, the same company that makes QuickClot, but the two are entirely different products. But about your kit, I agree keep it simple, if you get to complicated you may be less inclined to call or delay calling EMS when you should be, I have seen this happen. The list provided above is good for a home kit. Stay Safe. |
| First thing to put in your "kit" is knowledge. Make sure you have the training. Take a first aid course and/or a wilderness first aid course, then you'll know what to put in your kit because you know how to use it. For supplies I usually get mine at the Wal-Mart pharmacy or Chinook Medical. |
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Nice list, Hub'. I'll copy it for comparison to my other lists.
Look at these kits, as well: Adventure Medical If you can handle a 5.2MB worth of e-mail attachments, I'll send what few lists and material I have. The largest document (4MB) is an Austere Medicine document edited by several people. PM or e-mail me through this site. |
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The wife and I recently got CPR & First Aid certified through the local Red Cross. Subsequently I purchased two of these kits for our vehicles: http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php?product=101&catname=Sportsman&prodname=Hunter# MSRP is $60 but they retail around $40.
This kit seemed to do a good job of covering the basics and I liked the additional bleeding/wound care items included in the "trauma" add-on. I'm no expert and I'm sure I'll augment this kit as I learn more. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
If you don't have proper training, don't bother with airways and IV bags and Quickclot. GET trained, asap! What about the new quikclot bandages? Seems pretty straightforward. The new QC combat gauze or Celox gauze is probably a good choice if you're convinced that you need a hemostatic, in that either requires you to use direct pressure / packing in the application asopposed to the origional QC that people were sprinkling on wounds. Here's the thing though - these hemostatics are big with non-medical folk, 'cause they sound like a great idea, and they sound high speed and sexy. Medics, physicians and such tend to be lukewarm towards this stuff though, 'cause it's in large part a solution in search of a problem. I've controlled bleeding from gunshot wounds, chainsaw accidents, degloving farm injuries, dog maulings, yadda yadda, all with conventional means. My service carried traumadex for a few years. We stopped carrying it when our supply guy realized that we hadn't used the stuff one single time in several years of having it on board. I did use a free sample of QC on a friend once after he cut the tip of his finger off slicing rheubarb. he screamed like a little bitch expressed his suprise at the pain involved, and remarked that it hurt worse then the initial injury. It did stop the bleeding though, and offered some good comedy. This stuff is marketed for situations such as a femoral bleed. The thing is, the femoral artery is under tension. If you transect it, the proximal end (the end closest to the torso) retracts, often up into the pelvic cavity - it doesn't sit there right next to the wound. So applying something like QC to the open wound doesn't stop the femoral bleed. In clinical trials on pigs, they carefully lacerated the femoral without cutting it in half in order to avoid this little issue. My take on bleeding control? Direct pressure works wonders. Knowing how to pack a wound properly can be a lifesaver. If push comes to shove, especially in austere or self aid situations, a decent tourniquet can be worth it's weight in gold. If you want to spend 40 bucks and stock QC combat gauze as a wound packing material instead of seventy five cents worth of kling, there's no harm in it. If someone insists that you just absolutely need QC, ask them what their credentials, education and experience is. Tommytrauma, NREMT-P, EMT-T, EMT-W, yadda yadda. |
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If you are concerned about gunshot/knife/puncture wounds, a tampon can be inserted into the wound to help control bleeding.
When you need a large, field expedient, bandage, a maxi pad can get the job done. I know a guy who is LEO and does a lot of traveling; he always carries a small first aid kit, with a tampon in it, in his carry on luggage. He said that in all of the times that he has gone through airport security, he has been questioned about every item in his kit except the tampon. 
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I was a medic before for 911 and I got my own kits full of whatever I need. Hard to find many good kits really, they're all overpriced also. 911 is a telephone number isn't it? I find it's usually ummm, well, ummm "the sheep" that refer to the police, fire, or EMS crew as "911". As far as what makes a kit "good" really depends on your training and experience. The best kit is probably the one you put together yourself. You'll know exactly what's inside of it and you won't have to wonder about the contents. However, there are some pretty good pre-made kits out there on the market that are not out of sight if you had to buy the contents yourself. It's hard for a kit to NOT be overpriced when most medics that I know of assemble the contents of their kits by asking friends at the hospital, fire department, local ground EMS, and even flight crew staff for what they need. They only buy what they can't get for free. |
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I saw that you plan on having kits for the cars.. Something to keep in mind..
If its medicine such as pill or anything with fluid, they dont last that long in the car. Granted, I am in Arizona so heat is a real issue. Out here all summer long, your car could sit and bake stuff inside at 125-140 degrees for 5 months. I am not sure how hot it gets where you are, but to be safe, most stuff wont last more than 2 years. Adhesives, creams, oinments, pills, etc usually go bad. Out here, those that syayed prepared, junk there stuff after one year. if you have good weather, that yoru lucky.. but something to think about is maybe a small kit for each car... just in case you forget, but keep the good stuff in a bag that always goes with you in the car. |
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Does anyone have experience with Celox? It's for sale on Amazon but is pricey. Product description says it has several advantages over QuickClot. I don't have any experience with it. You should find out how many of your local Fire / Rescue and EMS services use it. They deal with injuries that something like Celox would be used in every day. Let us know what they say. :) |
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If you are going to use a Hemostatic Agent look at the Hemostatic Agent Study I posted earlier in this thread.
Study by Institute of Surgical Research Survival Analysis WoundStat = 100% Combat Gauze = 80% Celox = 60% Quick Clot = 0% Total Hemostasis Time WoundStat = Almost 3 Hours Combat Gauze = 2 Hours 15 Minutes Celox = 2 Hours QuickClot = 15 Minutes Total Blood Loss (mL/kg) Wound Stat = 25 Combat Gauze = 60 Celox = 60 Quickclot = 100 WoundStat was pulled from TCCC guidelines for risk of Pulmonary Embolisims. It is still available for sale however from Trauma Cure. |
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Quoted:
I have some money left over in our health savings account. I was thinking about making some comprehensive first aid kits for the the house, and two if not all three of the cars. I have about $200 or so to spend on all four. What would you get to put in one? Where is the best place to find some of the harder to find items? Thanks for your patience with a rather rookie question. In the time I have been selling premade kits, I have found that unless you have some great sources, often you can't put together a kit for what some of the premade ones go for. That said, nobody sells a kit that is 100% what every individual needs. My advice is look at the premade kits from suppliers like myself and others, and crunch the numbers. You are almost always better off buying a kit that is 90% what you want and then customizing the last 10% for your needs. My kits and supplies. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I have some money left over in our health savings account. I was thinking about making some comprehensive first aid kits for the the house, and two if not all three of the cars. I have about $200 or so to spend on all four. What would you get to put in one? Where is the best place to find some of the harder to find items? Thanks for your patience with a rather rookie question. In the time I have been selling premade kits, I have found that unless you have some great sources, often you can't put together a kit for what some of the premade ones go for. That said, nobody sells a kit that is 100% what every individual needs. My advice is look at the premade kits from suppliers like myself and others, and crunch the numbers. You are almost always better off buying a kit that is 90% what you want and then customizing the last 10% for your needs. My kits and supplies. How exactly do you select the contents for your kits? Do you have any medical background, or are you using someone else's contents list? |