Quote:
Originally Posted by backcountrymedic
I'll completely concur with this. I've been a NOLS Wilderness Medicine instructor for 19 years, and a paramedic for 16. A first aid kit is only as good as the training behind it. Your best resource is education. A basic first aid kit and bleeding control kit can go a long way, but it's more important to know how to use what resources you have.
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I concur as well. I will go a little farther though and say that most all of the first aid kits you can buy are junk. Most have too few of what you need and too much of what you don't. Additionally, some come with total junk equipment.
I suggest to use what is tried & true. The same stuff we carry on the ambulances, what we use in the ER, and what combat medics carry. Lots of companies out there sell the latest and greatest "tacti-cool" medical toys, that are just worthless. RATS tourniquets are an example of this. They are not used by the military, hospitals, or EMS services. CAT tourniquets are your best, safest bet. You also need lots of 4x4s, and most off the shelf first aid kits come with less than 5.
Build a kit, in a purpose built bag or case, and keep it easily accessible. Open it regularly and be familiar with what is in it and know how to use EVERYTHING in there.
As for those who have said they will just keep a first aid book with their kit and use it when the need arises, that is a recipe for disaster. Read the book BEFORE you need the skills and info in there. Speaking of skills, you have to practice them first as well. In my EMT classes, we hammer skills, over and over again. Then test on them to pass the class. Even then, most new EMTs skill vapor lock the first few times you have to do these things in real life. You can expect a much higher chance of vapor lock for the lay person who has just read about the skills in a book.
I am not trying to be mean or rude, just honest and blunt.
I buy my supplies from the following places:
Emergency Medical Products | Emergency Medical Supplies & Equipment
Emergency Medical Supplies & Equipment | Bound Tree
OLAES(R) Modular Trauma Bandage, Medical Dressing for Combat
Products With A Mission | North American Rescue
3 tourniquets, 60 4x4s, 3 rolls of coban, 6 rolls of roller gauze, 6 cravats, 3 sam splints, a box of gloves, and 3 condor medical bags and you have enough to make 3 good kits to keep in you and your spouse's vehicle and one for at home.
Most of the sites linked earlier in this thread appear to stock their bags with supplies from bound tree and buy EMP and use condor bags...and pretty ladies to model them. You can build better for less. The unit dose OTC meds and creams usually expire well before you use them and they're much more expensive to purchase that way. Buy a tube of cream small bottles of the meds from the dollar store and a package of pill bags. Put a tube of cream in each bag and divide the pills up in the pill bags (label them with the drug name, dose, exp date, and lot #) and you're set. change them out yearly (especially if kept in the vehicle).
I have gone through probably 6 different personal bag setups over my career. I have removed most all of my ALS equipment from them and just carry the aforementioned equipment. I still have an ALS bag that I take sometimes, but will only use it on friends and family.
I'll step off of my soap box now.
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-ReD
Firefighter/Licensed Paramedic
*SOLD* 2000 4Runner Limited 4x4
2020 Ford F-150 3.5L EB
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