Posted: 4/12/2012 4:30:04 AM EDT
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge.
2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? |
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I realize you want to buy a prefab kit, why not make one yourself? Bandages, peroxide, triple antibiotic ointment. Don't need much. This is the way, to go! and OP, perhaps you should check out this. ARFCOM Survival Forum |
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? I have two of them based off of NUTNFANCY'S level 1 first aid kits. Check his youtube channel for contents. One of them is small and I usually keep it in my tactical vest when shooting and the other is in my backpack |
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? There is a huge difference in a first aid kit and a trauma kit. If you are dealing with a GSW and first responders are a "long ass time" away I'd encourage you to get some training and the right equipment. Lone Star Medics out of Ft Worth are excellent. |
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I realize you want to buy a prefab kit, why not make one yourself? Bandages, peroxide, triple antibiotic ointment. Don't need much. I want to do a +1 to this for a couple different reasons. Any trauma or super high end first aid kits are overly priced. Second (which most people dont realize) these prefab kits are packaged and many of the times are stored in over heated areas. My expereince with them is half the time your basics (anything with adheasive) doesnt work. All get super "sticky" and doesnt stay on well. Build your own. Much cheaper in the long run and can make a better ket that suits your needs. For my first aid kits, I use a Fishing Tackle box. The slots help keep stuff organized and keeps big bulky stuff stored at the bottom. For refrence to a first aid kid consult a BOY SCOUT Manual or Boy Scout First Aid Merit Badge book. Even if you have general first aid knowledge these tell your basics of the must haves in your kits. Of course there is other sources of first aid/ trama kits but that will get you started. Shopping wise look at your main stores Walmart, Kmart, Target, Walgreens or you major Grocery Chain with a pharmacy. Be careful with clearance with the adheasives due to not knowing how long it has been on the shelf. A must have in any kit is getting hospital tape. I personally havent seen it in stores but then again never really looked because my mom is a nurse in the ER. Another must have is hosptial scissors (the bent angle ones) When I trained my Scouts i made sure they had those. Even though just bout any scissor can cut any light cloth the angles for a cut is too extreme. If it means life and death don't skimp out on it. thats my .02 |
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? I have two of them based off of NUTNFANCY'S level 1 first aid kits. Check his youtube channel for contents. One of them is small and I usually keep it in my tactical vest when shooting and the other is in my backpack He wants a FAK, not a 4 hour seminar 
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| I bought a prefabbed trauma kit from Ranger Joes. I'm sure it was more expensive than it should have been but it was 90% complete. I've added what I needed to over the years. This was before my arfcom days though. I'm sure there's some great advice to put your own together in the survival forum. |
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? I have two of them based off of NUTNFANCY'S level 1 first aid kits. Check his youtube channel for contents. One of them is small and I usually keep it in my tactical vest when shooting and the other is in my backpack He wants a FAK, not a 4 hour seminar
I just knew I would get flamed 
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? There is a huge difference in a first aid kit and a trauma kit. If you are dealing with a GSW and first responders are a "long ass time" away I'd encourage you to get some training and the right equipment. Lone Star Medics out of Ft Worth are excellent. This is the right advice. You need more training than just basic first aid if you are wanting to be able to stabilize a GSW victim in the middle of nowhere. We can tell you to get all sorts of chest seals and quick clot and various other things but unless you actually know how to use them it will just be weight in your pack. |
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http://www.rescue-essentials.com/ is a great site to either buy a complete kit, or piece together your own using different modules or components. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: 1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? There is a huge difference in a first aid kit and a trauma kit. If you are dealing with a GSW and first responders are a "long ass time" away I'd encourage you to get some training and the right equipment. Lone Star Medics out of Ft Worth are excellent. This is the right advice. You need more training than just basic first aid if you are wanting to be able to stabilize a GSW victim in the middle of nowhere. We can tell you to get all sorts of chest seals and quick clot and various other things but unless you actually know how to use them it will just be weight in your pack. True. Although the basics are easily learned. Do keep in mind that while the superficial part of a GSW is easily managed, as is most bleeding from other trauma, if something important was hit on the inside you're pretty much screwed. Or at least your patient is. Good on you for wanting to be prepared. If you can find an EMT course, it's nice to be able to start an IV and replace the stuff that leaks out of arteries and veins. This can make a world of difference in the outcome.  |
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1) I have BASIC first aid knowledge. 2) I spend a lot of my spare time 45 minutes to an hour away from the nearest town. 3) I shoot a lot of handgun and rifle rounds at said spare time location. 4) I generally have my son, his friends, and occasionally my friends with me. If accidental shooting happens, or broken leg, arm, etc, it will take a long ass time before first responders (TRAINED first responders) are on site. In addition to the screw ups swinging an axe cutting fire wood, or clearing trees with a chainsaw. What would be the best commercially available first aid / trauma kit to purchase? The "best" kit it the one that you make to fit your needs/expectations. Typically you can do it cheaper than you think. For a GSW kit, make sure you look at the OLAES modular bandage. TacMed Solutions has them. |
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Yup. I'm a *strong* proponent of self-designed kits, but if one must go commercial, they're the way to go. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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If you have a major trauma incident, God forbid, and first responders are more than a half-hour away.....you are gonna need to transport that patient towards the hospital. I'm not current on my EMT training, but I presume that 'the golden hour' still holds true. |
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Tommy’s take on a small, trauma focused kit;
I’m a firm believer in keeping boo-boo stuff like band-aids and chap-stick separate from major trauma supplies, either via separate pouches or a kit large enough to prevent having to dig through one to get to the other. The following is my take on a ’blow out kit’ or initial trauma intervention kit; Pressure dressings; Most bleeding can be controlled via direct pressure. Commercial dressings are faster and easier to use than coban and surgipads and such, especially if you’re treating yourself. I especially like the Olaes dressing, available from tacmedsolutions.com. Like all commercial pressure dressings, it’s essentially a large pad attached to an elastic bandage. However, it has Velcro ‘stop strips’ every six inches or so along the bandage, so if you lose your grip half-way through wrapping it around a leg or such, you don’t lose all your tension. The Olaes also lets you pull would packing material from behind the pad, and even comes with an occlusive dressing for sealing chest wounds. They’re essentially the same price, size and weight of other pressure dressings, with more flexibility built in. Available through tacmedsolutions.com among other places. A second dressing is handy. If space is a concern, H&H makes a flat-packed bandage almost as good as the Olaes, taking up less room. I carry a 4” Olaes as my primary, and the H&H flat packed bandage as a secondary. Tourniquet; Any extremity bleeding that bleeds through a pressure dressing, or any extremity arterial bleed, or any serious extremity bleed when you’re alone and treating yourself should be tourniqueted. Lots of folk love the TK4 and such for space, cost and weight, but I won’t carry a TQ unless it has a windlass for tightening. IMHO, either a SOF-T or CAT tourniquet is the way to go. Again, available from tacmedsolutions.com. Having two just isn’t a bad idea. Occlusive dressing; Any hole in the chest, back or belly should be sealed with a dressing that won’t allow air to enter the cavity. Traditionally, this was done either by taping a piece of plastic over the wound or using a dressing covered with petroleum jelly. However, commercial occlusive dressings like the Asherman, Bolin and Halo have come out in recent years. They are much faster to apply. The Asherman and Bolin have one-way valves, intended to allow trapped air from a collapsed lung to escape, but the most recent train of thought is that such serves little practical purpose. I think very highly of the Halo chest seal – no valve, but exceptionally sticky, sticks to bloody, sweaty skin well, easy to use. One Halo package contains two seals, handy as you often have at least two holes. Available from (you guessed it) tacmedsolutions.com. Wound packing material / Hemostatic; Hemostatic agents such as Quik-Clot have become popular over the past several years. Most paramedics are lukewarm about the idea, primarially because the vast majority of bleeding can be controlled without, and because lay-people were neglecting the basic, life-saving steps and depending on magic kitty litter QC instead. The original Quik-Clot also got hotter than hell, blew around into people’s eyes, yadda yadda. However, Z-medica came out with ‘Combat Gauze’ a couple of years ago, a roll of gauze impregnated with a clotting agent. Since packing a serious bleeder wound is already an exceptionally effective intervention, this stuff makes perfect sense. A co-worker of mine is also a reserve medic, and he went through some sort of medic specific BNOC training at Sam Huston a year or so ago. They were shooting up goats and patching them up with this stuff, and he came back speaking very well of it. I’ve included it in my kit since. A bit spendy at 30 bucks a roll, but worth it IMHO. Honestly though, I wouldn’t feel terribly underequipped with fifty cent roll of kling for wound packing instead. Again, available from tacmedsolutions.com Duct tape; Too handy for words. I use it to secure bandages, for extra securing of occlusives, for splinting, all sorts of stuff. Coughlins makes peel-off backing duct tape that comes in segments that are about a yard long. Folded up, it takes no room in a kit and is too handy to be without. Sold as flat fold duct tape. One source; http://www.redflarekits.com/7030 Nasal airway; A tube inserted in a nostril, which tracks back into the airway and prevents the tounge and other soft tissues from closing off the airway in a unresponsive patient. Cheap and effective, but it does take a bit of training. Handy if you need to leave your patient to go get help or such. If you carry one, carry the damn packet of KY to lube it with. Large bore IV cath for needle decompression of a tension pneumo; Takes more training to effectively use than most internet forums would have people believe. When you need one though, you really need one. I carry a couple, but maintain a neutral stance regarding their carry by non-professionals. If you decide to though, be aware that the standard 14 gauge IV cath used by many is often too short. The ARS needle decompression kit or the mojodart is the way to go. For the love of God, seek appropriate training before you jam one into someone’s chest though. The Mojodart is available from tacmedsolutions.com Kling; A roll of gauze, handy for wound packing, splinting, making a sling, yadda yadda. Cheap, available at Walgreens or wherever. Small sharpie; Use to write the time of tourniquet application on the patients forehead, make out your last will and testament, yadda yadda. Nitrile gloves; The risk involved in blood borne pathogen exposure is overstated, but gloves are still worthwhile. Have at least two pairs, ‘cause they break, get messy enough to need swapping out, etc. If you wander past your local fire station and explain that you’re putting a kit together for boys cout outings or such, they’ll give you a handful. Get the right size (small, medium, large). Trying to work in the wrong size sucks. Be aware, this is my idea of a kit for immediate trauma intervention. It isn’t intended as a comprehensive FAK. I’m a paramedic (NREMT-P, tactical medic, EMT-W…) in south central Wisconsin. Any arfcommer is welcome to come by when I’m working and get a crash course in the use of this stuff. Just drop me an IM. |
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If you have a major trauma incident, God forbid, and first responders are more than a half-hour away.....you are gonna need to transport that patient towards the hospital. You'll need to be able to tell them where you are. If you have a favorite shooting spot in BFE write down the GPS coordinates, let someone else know where you're going to be in case they get a garbled cell phone call, make a laminated card with the lat, long, and MGRS coordinates and keep it handy. If you take a hit on a major artery you need to get to a higher level of care really quick. Handy Iphone App http://www.basicgps.net/Basic_GPS/Main.html |
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There is a huge difference in a first aid kit and a trauma kit. If you are dealing with a GSW and first responders are a "long ass time" away I'd encourage you to get some training and the right equipment. Lone Star Medics out of Ft Worth are excellent. Yes, you need to learn how to deal with GSW. You need a blow out kit with a TQ. I use tacmedsolutions for supplies ETA- listen to tommytrauma. He taught me a lot of what I know. |