Individual First Aid Kit

[Mike54]

I work in an office environment but on weekends I can be working in an area where minor first aid can be a necessity. I have several small first aid kits with bandages and antibacterial creams. About a month back I managed to slice my thumb open and my kit seemed woefully inadequate. Does anyone have recommendations for a small first aid kit to handle something requiring a stitch or two, but not to the level of treating a gunshot wound?

[RICHFL]

I do not know what you do on the weekends but it sounds like it is outside. I carry a Trauma Kit. This is for one thing only - massive lose of blood.

What it has in a small bag 6"x6"x2" is the following:
2 IDF 6" battle dressings with blood clotting added, 1 SWAT Tourniquet, a gallon plastic zip lock bag, bandage scissors, a folding knife, triple antibacterial ointment packets, Lg and Sm breathing tubes, CRP kit, band-aids.

You can die from blood loss within 1 minute, You start to die from lack of oxygen at 3-4 minutes.

[CountryGuy]

duct tape, super glue - seriously For finger slice I've seen lots of guys when I worked construction wrap tape around it and go back to work.

[Buggyout]

I have two enhanced IFAKs, one I carry in my bag, the other on my IBA. I also carry extra Quikclot in each kit.

https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Medical-Kits-QuikClot-2064-0292/dp/B00CLDIGPK/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1508723063&sr=8-2&keywords=trauma+pak+with+QuikClot

If ya cut yourself bad enough, it works great! Ask me and my chainsaw how we know. haha

-Buggy

[Schneb]

Seems like there's either the 'boo-boo' kit for scrapes and such, or the 'trauma' kit with quikclot/israeli bandages/tourniquets.

I've hesitated to go too far in terms of things to close a serious/deep cut as (a) I'm in an urban area and near a lot of medical aid provders (urgent care and/or hospitals) and I have decent insurance, (b) I'm wary of closing up a wound and having it get infected. My cousin did that as a kid and woke up the next day with the angry red lines going up her leg, etc. She could've lost the leg/died if she'd let it go longer.

But I'm comfortable with the idea of a steri-strip or a bandage with some kind of clotting aid in it (not sure what those are called but recently heard about such). Also, being able to irrigate the wound, and having triple antibiotic ointment and/or povidone to hopefully counter an infection, and gauze pads to keep out dirt would be my approach. If the injury was deep (as either a puncture or slice) and was something that continued to bleed after a 5-10 minutes, I don't think I'd want to close it up (except so I could get to a healthcare center without bleeding out/bleeding all over clothes/car) and/or deal with that on my own. Post SHTF, there wouldn't be a choice, maybe, but as long as there are options to do otherwise...

But maybe I'm overly cautious and/or if you've got more background with first aid/wound/injuries, then don't mind me.

But I'd kick it up a notch in terms of first aid kit by adding:

• (more) gauze pads of various sizes and types
• larger sizes/various shapes of band-aids
• first aid tape to secure the above items
• steri-strips
• some form of an irrigation device (eye wash kit? bulb syringe or other large syringe?)
• triple antibiotic cream
• povidone (or some other surface prep--I've looked it up but can't recall why povidone is sometimes favored)
• a cold pack or two would be good, too, though that's getting kind of bulky.

...but: the tourniquets and israeli bandages seem like a 'Yeah--I want those too' item after seeing the videos of people caught in the concert crowd in Vegas.

I don't know what to do with an airway--I think I know the general idea behind having such, but never had any training with them--so not carrying those. Sometimes the idea of having such in case someone is on hand with the training, so THEY can use it sort of appeals to me, but if that's the case I'd also have a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff and this kit is starting to be pretty big.

Rich, are you carrying a breathing tube as something you would use on someone, or just in case a medically trained person is there to use it--or do you have that kind of know how yourself? Is it something simple enough that a non-trained person might be able to use it successfully (and if the person is not getting air, might as well try!)?

Just wondering.

[Mike54]

Thanks for the recommendations. I like the idea of the quick clot and gauze pads. Duct tape is a good idea too.

[CountryGuy]

Check out this site: https://store.doomandbloom.net This is Dr. Joe Alton and his wife Nurse Amy's site. They have all kinds of kits and I also believe she will customize to your needs.

Doc Joe is the reason people know about things like fishmox being the exact same thing as amoxicillin. They are both real deal medical experts fully committed to the self reliance/ prepper lifestyle.

[RICHFL]

One of the first things you need to do is get trained in First Aid. The local Red Cross holds classes from basic first aid to advance life saving to CPR certification. The classes are mostly at night at a local school and use a lot of on hands training! Get at least the basic First Aid and CPR certifications!!!! Part of that training is discussions about what to carry on you, have in your vehicle and what to have at home in the way of medical supplies.

[Applejack]

Looks like this is well covered. I do keep quick clot and steri strips in my pack as well as gauze, tape, bandages of assorted sizes. Also keep splinter removal kit in mine as well. Plus a lot of what is listed above. I do have 4 very large first aid kits as well as the smaller ones in the car. Compliments of working for doctor. When he retired I got to have a lot of first aid stuff and then some.

[Cedar]

One of the first things you need to do is get trained in First Aid. The local Red Cross holds classes from basic first aid to advance life saving to CPR certification. The classes are mostly at night at a local school and use a lot of on hands training! Get at least the basic First Aid and CPR certifications!!!! Part of that training is discussions about what to carry on you, have in your vehicle and what to have at home in the way of medical supplies.

Also ask your local fire station when they do their classes if you can get in on them. I was VFD fir two years, and that is where I got my first aid, CPR, and EMR classes/testing through, but we let community members join in on the fun too.

Cedar

[Cedar]

Looks like this is well covered. I do keep quick clot and steri strips in my pack as well as gauze, tape, bandages of assorted sizes. Also keep splinter removal kit in mine as well. Plus a lot of what is listed above. I do have 4 very large first aid kits as well as the smaller ones in the car. Compliments of working for doctor. When he retired I got to have a lot of first aid stuff and then some.

I would also recommend menstrual pads, as they are a semi-sterile dressings, tampons do work for certain wounds, vet skin glue is not much different than super glue -- but it burns like Hades -- yikes! And none of my kits lack 6" curved mosquito forceps....they have 1,001 uses. Pakistani made are cheaper and what I have used fir 20 years, next ones up are German made.

Cedar

[Applejack]

Didn't know they made a vet skin glue. I have super glue in my kit. Where can you get the vet glue.

[Cedar]

It is called "vet bond". It is a purple coloured glue. I used it on myself at work when a cat flayed me open one day. In hindsight, I may have preferred to have bled out. It burns! Bad! But Google "vet bond" and you can probably buy it from Lewis or Davis vet supplies.

But it works, and it originated during the Vietnam war, and trickled down to animal surgery over time.

What also works is Cayenne pepper, and surprisingly enough, it DOES NOT burn.

Cedar

[Cedar]

Also remember, that some things are better open, or a drain put in to prevent creating an abcess.

Suturing or glueing to close a wound just makes it heal faster, and prettier scars. Sometimes it is almost better to leave things open... Within reason. Some ugly animal wounds which were not responding to vet care at the clinics, a last ditch effort... Keeping it clean, packing it with honey, bandaging and changing daily, resolved the issue.

Cedar

[Applejack]

I know the Cayenne pepper works. I have not tried it but a friend of mine did. Stopped the bleeding fast. And yes I do keep the menstrual pads and tampons in my medical kit. They say for a gun shot wound you can put a tampon in the hole to help stop the bleeding. Hope we never have to find that one out. Honey does have a lot of healing properties. Not in my kit but I do have 3 or 4 jars in my food preps.