What to put in a Good First Aid kit for my vehicles?

[Chinookman]

trauma kit choices

As a good Samaritan the ABC is first and foremost.....the tourniquet issue depends on one's training and the circumstances there is no one right answer. A spurting bleeder versus an open wound w/o the arterial spurting etc.
Traffic management and staying with the 911 operator paramount ..... part of the kit should include a windshield breaker and seat belt cutter.
This is my EDC: http://www.crkt.com/erknives



So here are some sources that has lots of options for ones level of training:
http://www.survival-supply.com/trauma-kits-c-110.html
or
http://www.emergencykits.com/first-responder-kits/trauma-kits
or
http://www.rescue-essentials.com/vehicle-trauma-kit/

 

[Rebel]

A bottle of high proof, a short length of rope, a sharp knife, a small hook, and a small saw.

 

[ROGER4314]

Carrying the trauma kit one step further, I borrowed a book from the local gun store that enumerated cheap, basic and helpful items to stock for SHTF supplies. The book was pretty interesting and well thought out!

Some highlights:

Salt
Can be used as a cleaner, condiment to make SHTF rations more tasty, and if necessary, as a wound medication.

Kotex and similar feminine products.
Use as a wound dressing, and for their intended purpose, too.

Midol and similar medications to go with above This was not from the book....my suggestion.
For obvious reasons. Makes life worth living.....snicker!

Medication for skin rashes and Jock rash.
SHTF bathing will be seldom. In our climate.......well, you know.

Aspirin and other OTC pain killers.
With all the injuries that I've had, makes survival a bit easier!

Flash

 

[GunDok]

I'll input my reasonably current theories on this, we (UK Mil) are taught to use CAT on a catastrophic bleed, and by hat they tell us to use it where normal bleed control measures don't work, or are unlikely to. So if you have a lower limb amputation, chances are some Celox gauze and an Israeli dressing aren't going to cut it...
on the subject of day to day Med kit (which seemed to me what the OP was meaning) some things I would add (only if you are trained in use) are an adjustable stiff neck collar and some OPA's (Oropharangeal airways)

one thing the Germans do well is every car must, by law, carry a first aid kit. They can be collected by the police in the event of an accident, they give you a voucher for a replacement.

 

[grasshopperglock]

I'll input my reasonably current theories on this, we (UK Mil) are taught to use CAT on a catastrophic bleed, and by hat they tell us to use it where normal bleed control measures don't work, or are unlikely to. So if you have a lower limb amputation, chances are some Celox gauze and an Israeli dressing aren't going to cut it...
on the subject of day to day Med kit (which seemed to me what the OP was meaning) some things I would add (only if you are trained in use) are an adjustable stiff neck collar and some OPA's (Oropharangeal airways)

one thing the Germans do well is every car must, by law, carry a first aid kit. They can be collected by the police in the event of an accident, they give you a voucher for a replacement.

Hang around, GD. Good info.

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

That's good info. I've often wondered why US autos don't come from the factory with first aid kits, and jump cables in the spare wheel or jack compartment.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Younggun]

Because they would charge $500 for a $12 first aid kit and $20 set of almost worthless jumper cables.



Personally, I feel the gov already requires too much. Don't need them requiring me to keep a first aid kit in the truck.


Course, they already do in my work truck.


Sent from my HAL 9000

 

[Derek8404]

In an urban/suburban setting applied by a professional like a medic or EMT-B and hospital care is close by, I'll agree. On the flip side, the ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support for non-medical folks) course I took in 2009 discouraged their use by untrained lay people because they were often applied too tightly and caused tissue injury that ultimately led to necrosis and eventual amputation or other complications including emboli, nerve damage, and systemic reperfusion injuries. Admittedly, I don't maintain this cert anymore so I don't know what they're teaching nowadays. When I worked at UC Davis in California back in 2007, the ED director (an army combat surgeon who spent time in the sand box) hated them because in ~50% of the cases where they were applied, they weren't indicated and the medteams were left to clean up the mess created by untrained folks.

My comments weren't exactly accurate, but they're not a wives' tale, as you put it... but they were inaccurate for a reason. That reason is for the layman, a tourniquet should be an absolute last resort because direct pressure can often control even the most persistent arterial bleeders.

The average person generally sucks at applying direct pressure. So how long should they let someone bleed out before resorting to a tourniquet?

 

[Derek8404]

Things have changed since 09.


For serious bleeders I will go straight to a tourniquet.

Exactly. If someone is severely bleeding, I'm throwing one on right away. That person will be at transported to a higher echelon of care WAY before any damage is done because of a tourniquet.

 

[diveRN]

The average person generally sucks at applying direct pressure. So how long should they let someone bleed out before resorting to a tourniquet?

The average person hasn't had training to 'properly' apply direct pressure. That said, it also stands to reason that the average person won't have training to properly apply a tourniquet either. Had one come in the ED the other day with a tourniquet on the LUE, below the elbow.

Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

The average person hasn't had training to 'properly' apply direct pressure. That said, it also stands to re<script id="gpt-impl-0.38642594344548325" src="http://partner.googleadservices.com/gpt/pubads_impl_80.js"></script>ason that the average person won't have training to properly apply a tourniquet either. Had one come in the ED the other day with a tourniquet on the LUE, below the elbow.

Your guess is as good as mine.

I'm not an RN, what does LUE stand for?

Lower something extremity?

 

[diveRN]

Sorry, charting habits showing through. Left Upper Extremity. Arm.

Edit to add: This was applied by someone who was witness to a farming accident where the pt's hand was nearly severed, not a medically trained person.

 

[duckknot]

The average person hasn't had training to 'properly' apply direct pressure. That said, it also stands to reason that the average person won't have training to properly apply a tourniquet either. Had one come in the ED the other day with a tourniquet on the LUE, below the elbow.

Your guess is as good as mine.

What was the injury? If it was below the tourniquet then not as bad as if the injury were above it!

 

[diveRN]

See post right above yours. Considering privacy laws and all that, it will have to suffice to say that it was a nearly complete amputation of the hand.

 

[Mreed911]

Sorry, charting habits showing through. Left Upper Extremity. Arm.

Edit to add: This was applied by someone who was witness to a farming accident where the pt's hand was nearly severed, not a medically trained person.

That's correct placement per some current field training. Doesn't always have to be more proximal (though it helps).

 

[diveRN]

I don't pretend to know it all regarding this, but I've been around awhile. The ONLY journals I've ever seen indicating tourniquet placement over that part of an arm or leg where two bones are located is in the operating room.

I was always trained that the idea behind a tourniquet is to compress the bleeding vessel to stop blood flow. In order to compress it, you have something to compress the vessel against and that has always been a long bone. Putting it over the lower arm or leg where there are two bones would require a tighter tourniquet to achieve hemostasis because the tourniquet will compress and force tissue into the space between the bones possibly causing the bones to distort, especially in the case where there may be a fracture.

Even the ED doc shook his head when he saw this application.

 

[Mreed911]

It's not ideal - I'll give you that - but it isn't strictly contraindicated.

From a management perspective, though, it's MUCH easier to place, secure and manage them nearer the trunk.

The better question is: did it work?

In either case, it's a good time for some more education around tourniquet use by field crews - the science on these is changing rapidly.

 

[diveRN]

...

The better question is: did it work?

In either case, it's a good time for some more education around tourniquet use by field crews - the science on these is changing rapidly.

Whether it "worked" or not would be entirely based on your definition of success as it relates to the word. It was bleeding on arrival, though slowly. Incident happened approximately 10minutes PTA. When we removed the shirt that the stump was wrapped in, it was still going some and picked up a little more when the tourniquet was removed, but it wasn't anything we couldn't control by elevating the arm and holding pressure on. We eventually put a pressure dressing over it to get the pt to the OR. Dunno where it went after that.

All of that said, I'm not against these devices... never have been. I'm just not in favor of the untrained and/or unpracticed going straight to them in every case of a bleeder. There will be times when they're not needed and applied, or applied incorrectly, and the incidence of this will go up when applied by non-EMS/medical folks.

EMS folks who've trained and have some time in the field time, fine ... they know a lot of blood when they see it and often have more to worry about than just a single bleeder.

 

[Wildcat Diva]

1391159[/URL]]While this is sound advice, what if one of your passengers, or a passenger in another vehicle WAS certified, but did not have the item with them as they were a "passenger" in a vehicle.

I agree with this.

I am getting my bag ready...

 

[Rebel]

Because they would charge $500 for a $12 first aid kit and $20 set of almost worthless jumper cables.

Personally, I feel the gov already requires too much. Don't need them requiring me to keep a first aid kit in the truck

This.