What's in an ideal first aid kit

[Lignum]

A bottle of yellow hot stuff super glue and accelerator is my first aid kit. Brilliant to stop bleeding

[soundman]

as promised a picture of one of my first aid kits..... they are all set up the same.

there are things that shouldnt be there...... so you cant see them .... like panadol, imodium & phenergran.

cheers

[Article99]

holy crap! your work vehicles don't look like ambulances by any chance, do they?

So called 'first aid kit' at work & home consists of;

-Roll of tape.
-A few clean cotton rags.
-A homemade (see homebutchered) hss knife.
-A fine bottle of 15 yo, single malt scotch.

Ideally, you could get away with only items 1,2&3, but I enjoy my liquid medicine after attempting to grind a digit or two on a diamond wheel at work.

It's not a cut. It's not a burn. It just hurts like hell, bleeds like a bastard initially and then aches for weeks afterwards.

[doug1]

I have a $35 kit that has a number of additives including burn spray, various tablets, saline in single use mini bottles (eye cleaner etc) real band aids and plaster and a few other assorted items which my acredited daughter thinks is way too much.

from one who made her own kit at about 8 to take guiding

[bsrlee]

I have a few small watertight boxes I bought from the kitchen section of my local bargain shop - I have one in each of my day-to-day backpacks and one in the workshop. I keep an assortment of bandaids, latex gloves, some asprin, a couple of zip-lock bags (you want inner & outer bags - ice in outer bag, finger in inner bag) and some of the superfine splinter tweezers LV sell. I haven't seen any chemist shops around my suburbs selling more advanced First Aid stuff like resus. masks & shell dressings.

If its too big or complex for my kit, I keep my mobile in my pocket - ring 000, give my location & stagger out to the roadside, fall down & wait for ambo.

[scanfor]

Hope you have some anti-SEPTIC in there - nice tank!

[Pete J]

I always keep a nubile young lady in the first aid kit. You never know when or where you might get bitten by a snake. And it must be obvious to everyone that if you want the poison sucked out, there are lots of places you just can't reach yourself.

Regards

[soundman]

two things that I have found.
The local chemist is far from the best place to obtaim firstaid supplies.
genuine band aid brand .... bandaids do worh the best.

cheers

[Rel]

Has anyone mentioned a pair of clean, sharp scissors. Surely you can't use all that one pack of bandage roll on your finger

[soundman]

top left hand compartment.
one pair of blunt/pointy type surgical scissors

when you buy the small bandages at the right place they are 20 to 30 cents each...... but they are often too long.

cheers

[Clinton1]

1/2 a towel is enough for me.

[rsser]

+ Space blanket, in case of shock.

Echo Soundman's point about gloves if you're treating someone else. Lotsa folk out there have HIV or Hep C and don't know it or won't be in a state to tell you.

[soundman]

antiseptic top tray, front left.

space blanket bottom right with the triangular babdages.


One thing mant poeple fail to understand & this includes many in the medical area is...... that gloves are primarily for the protection of the wearer not the patient.


cheers

[Hingrock]

My suggestion for a basic kit when working with chainsaws is lots of trauma dressings (the big thick ones) and also some roller bandages to hold them on.

Whenever you are losing heaps of blood you want something that will soak up heaps and then clot up to slow the bleeding and the roller bandages are the fastest, easiest way of keeping them on.

And of course, a couple of bags to put the missing bits in prior to going to hospital.

[soundman]

trauma dressings... top tray to the right at the back.
they are bigger than they look packed and come with bandage attached.

there are bigger thicker ones.

I'd probaly slap a non adherant down first.

remember all this stuff is relativly cheap if you buy it from a good industrial first aid supplier.

one thing I will get next time i'm there is some steritabs. they are those thin adhesive strips used as wound closures.

First aid when you are close handy to a doctor or casualty ward is one thing when you have a some distance to travel or a reason you can't go straight there.... well thats another thing.

Its interesting that all the basic first aid courses these days assume that the ambulance is no more than 20 min away

cheers