A few weeks ago after dropping my son off at school, driving home I saw two people pretty frantic around an older gentleman laying on the ground with NOTICEABLE blood. I pulled over and ran to them, there was a stream of blood (a lot) on the ground, one person frantic on the phone, the other dry heaving while holding his hand to comfort him. The side of his head looked pretty banged up. I took off my shirt to help stop the bleeding and act as a cushion. The firedept and paramedics arrived within a few minutes and took over. After getting back in my car I realized I was unprepared for that situation.

I don't need a million bandaides like the prebuilt kits, just want to make sure I'm pretty ready for any situation. What's in your kit?

Super Dave, strikes again! Good on you to jump into action.

Following as I don't have anything in my [either one] car either.

David that’s a very good question but unfortunately not one easily answered.
The best kit is one that you are trained to use so an EMT should have a much more detailed kit than the average person. So having a good solid base of first aid training is, for me, the first step. Several years ago I started talking classes in Wilderness First Aid and have progressed from there…

Having said all that the guys at www.mymedic.com have numerous options. Perhaps something like this one would be what you would want..

https://mymedic.com/collection...ts/myfak-firstaidkit

I have taken a kit like this and added several things to it to customize it my liking.

Great job Dave! Good on you and true to form.

I’m NOT an expert but I’ve tried to give this some thought and try to be prepared.

I’m under the impression that there is a distinction between trauma care and first aid. You need to think about what situations and scenarios you may encounter. And also how many wounds and how many people.

My car kit is a little different than my suv kit. My biking kit is different than my range kit. But likely some common stuff between all kits. My home kit is also a bit different.

I’m looking forward to all the expert insights here so I can revisit what I have.

quote:

Originally posted by davetruong:
After getting back in my car I realized I was unprepared for that situation.

That might be a tall order. I have seen dedicated trauma kits that are the size of a small suitcase, and of course there are all sorts of medical emergencies that can happen on the road, including cardiovascular, trauma, obstetrics, etc. But some items from the top of my head- emergency blanket, CPR mask, bandage wraps, trauma shears (scissors), forceps, gauze pads and large bandages, tourniquet, burn dressings, splint kits, and a hell of a lot more....

First thing, get yourself a good tourniquet and a couple of Israeli Bandages. A pack or two of compressed gauze. Ceelox (QuickClot) to augment your tourniquet. One of the larger SAM Splints. Don't forget a roll or two of cloth tape.

Keep the tourniquet on the outside of the kit.

In addition to a basic kit, I also keep a tourniquet, Israeli compression bandage, quickclot sponge, and a couple chest seals.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
First thing, get yourself a good tourniquet and a couple of Israeli Bandages. A pack or two of compressed gauze. Ceelox (QuickClot) to augment your tourniquet. One of the larger SAM Splints. Don't forget a roll or two of cloth tape.

Keep the tourniquet on the outside of the kit.

This is a great starting place.

Almost all of those prepackaged kits have a lot of garbage that "sells" because they can claim their kits have "over 100 pieces" and most of it is Band-aids.

My kit has a TQ, an Israeli, compressed gauze, Frog Tape, and a couple of other things. TQ is separated and flat packed.

I've taken a few courses and I quickly learned that a trauma kit can be used for lesser injuries with great results but you can't really take a general first aid kit and use it for trauma very well.

The understanding is that absent a catastrophe, the goal of citizen first responders is to stabilize the victim until professionals arrive and can elevate the care.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
First thing, get yourself a good tourniquet and a couple of Israeli Bandages. A pack or two of compressed gauze. Ceelox (QuickClot) to augment your tourniquet. One of the larger SAM Splints. Don't forget a roll or two of cloth tape.

Keep the tourniquet on the outside of the kit.

^This, 100%.

Gloves
CPR Mask
Shears
Tourniquet
Israeli Pressure bandage
Ab pads
Gauze
Coban wrap
Tape
SAM splint
Flashlight and chem lights
Space blanket

This should get you by until help arrives. You can add more as you go. I try to have a towel or two in the cars as well.

My basic kits start with https://www.narescue.com/commu...t-vacuum-sealed.html.

My training level is minimal... normal training for law enforcement to include CPR, tourniquet, and a little exposure to things like emergency chest seals and wound packing...

In just about any situation of moderate to severe trauma about the best I can do is basic attempts to slow bleeding or provide CPR and wait for a higher level of care. I can also follow directions really well should someone of higher skill be there to tell me what to do.

Beyond that? Not a ton. Helping ensure the scene is safe and that no further damage is done.

So the stuff listed by those above seems adequate...

The first aide kit in both my vehicle and my wives is heavily stocked for the scrapes and ouchies commonly needed when one has multiple small kids... We use the heck out of them for that purpose, but they certainly aren't trauma kits.

Man, you lead an exciting life.

I keep my EDC kit super super simple.

CPR Mask
Tourniquet
ChitoSAM (Z-fold hemostatic dressing)
Nitrile gloves
Shears

A) If someone isn't breathing, CPR mask.
B) If someone is catastrophically bleeding:
i) from a limb, then tourniquet;
ii) from anywhere else, then ChitoSam

Gloves are to protect yourself, shears are to cut clothes away so you can fix A) and B) above.

Everything else can wait. No splints, no gauze, no blankets, no tape.

The only other thing you'll need is to understand how to improvise solutions to:

A) Shock (maintain blood pressure to the head by elevating limbs; maintain body temp whatever jackets/blankets are around); and
B) Bullet holes in and around the lungs that require fixing vacuum leaks (improvise a seal using plastic packaging or cpr mask, vent using pens or whatever).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aeteocles,

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
First thing, get yourself a good tourniquet and a couple of Israeli Bandages. A pack or two of compressed gauze. Ceelox (QuickClot) to augment your tourniquet. One of the larger SAM Splints. Don't forget a roll or two of cloth tape.

Keep the tourniquet on the outside of the kit.

I’m 100% on the quick clot…about a month ago while walking my dog-daughter on our local walking trail, I sat down on a bench to take a little break before going to my truck to drive home…an off leash black lab (probably from one of the houses nearby) rushed my pupper and freaked her out…when I stood up to try and get control of the incident…she pulled me off balance and I raked my ear pretty much clear off on the metal construction of the bench…I’m on blood thinners and it was not pretty…I always carry a packet of “Quick Clot” and tore the packet open and dumped the whole thing into my ear and stopped the bleeding…after taking my dog home I went to the ER and after 21 stitches the ear was reattached and today everything is good…I made up a story that it was a raccoon that tore my ear off when I found what I thought was a raccoon skin hat next to the walking trail so I picked it up and placed it onto my head to see if it fit and it turned out to be a napping raccoon that didn’t like being woke up…the nurse that removed my stitches laughed her ass off when I related the “raccoon story” to her…raccoons are in my DNA (see my avatar )…first aid in any situation is clutch even if you don’t think yo will use it…you never know…be prepared!…
And for a tourniquet, buy a good one and stay far away from the cheapo Chinese products on Amazon…a recommendation from an EMT friend (not a raccoon) of mine

A lot of excellent and practical advice here!

As an active ski patroller for ~34 seasons here’s my humble contribution for a stocking item in one’s first aid pack -

Tampons

We see a lot of lacerations from ski and snowboard edges on every area of the body and some of them can be very deep.

A tampon is very absorbent and focuses its material in a concentrated area. A bonus feature is that that they are relatively cheap and they come wrapped in sterile packing.

Depending on the size of the wound and the rate of blood flow, multiple tampons can be placed directly over and adjacent to the wound.

Everything is then held in place with some tightly wrapped cling (a roll of gauze).

Yes, I also carry a medium and large absorbent pad in my pack but they are much better suited to cover larger wound areas.

I also carry various sizes of plastic bags for snow/ice packs and to also treat a sucking wound (and thank goodness I have not had to do that yet).

Rob

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is a sharpie marker to time stamp a tourniquet. Your experience is what really prompted me to put a kit together. I wouldn't want to happen upon something and not have any way to help or any idea what to do.

Israeli bandage, quick clot, two large towels, a fire extinguisher, large and small knives and a phone that gets the best service I can get in the rural I live in.

Definitely a CPR mask and if possible, a kit that will unroll so you can put your knees on it. You really don’t want to cheese grater your knees on asphalt covered in blood tying to do CPR. And the mask - very needed if someone’s had major facial/chest trauma gurgling blood.

If you want pre-built kits because you're new to the scene and don't know what should go in them, reputable places like North American Rescue, Dark Angel Medical or Medical Gear Outfitters (aka Skinny Medic). Please don't get stuff from Amazon or similar, because there's plenty of fake stuff out there.

A basic furnished trauma kit will probably come in around $150. Depending on the kit, the "bag" it comes in may leave you enough room to add some extra consumables like pressure dressings and chest seals, and you can usually affix extra tourniquets to the outside.

Some larger items like flexible splints don't fit too well in a compact kit, but are fine in something like the map pocket on a car seat back.

FWIW, tampons are more expensive than z-fold gauze from a 1:1 size to cost ratio, and a pack z-fold gauze gives you dozens more feet of absorbent fabric than a whole box of tampons. Unroll both and see. $3.00 for 4 yards of regular gauze from NAR in a vacuum pack. $4.00 for 5 yards of packing gauze from NAR. Very much more efficient in one small vacuum pack than carrying a box of tampons.

Finally, training is, like always, even more important than the gear. I'd highly recommend Dark Angel's DART class. You can also look for a Stop the Bleed class from your local Red Cross.

I like to think about a specific scenario to be prepared for. My mom's a nurse. When I was a kid. She had this black lunch pale (the long one with the round top) with stuff I'm sure she borrowed from Penrose. I used it once to put a bandage on neighbor girl. She didn't care much for the mercurochrome. Another neighbor lady cut off her finger "JW style" reaching inside a running mower. Mom took care of that and provided transport within minutes. I guess I would add as much gauze as possible and a mini roll of duct tape. to my kit. Time to shop.

I got the abc's basics. I suppose I would have to MacGyver it somewhat. Thanks for posting the thread.

Galls has dozens of kits to choose from:

https://www.galls.com/medical-kits

These fifteen are for us less-skilled people:

https://www.galls.com/first-aid-kits

Use code *VETDAY to get free shipping and 20% off.

I carry this in my CRV, I've added a tourniquet and a few more small items.

https://www.galls.com/dyna-med-trunk-first-aid-kit


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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,