DIY First Aid Kit

[Marbles]

Marbles,

I'm trying to remember if you're a medic or M.D.?

Just an NP and former ED nurse.

You're correct. I do greater than 10:1 but I don't work in the city where people get stabbed and shot. I see very few sucking chest wounds but I've needle decompressed dozens.

I carry a couple 14g 3" for that purpose when snowmobiling. I do not carry those while hunting but I do have knife.

Knife beats a needle in my opinion (of course you need something for blunt dissection), though my opinion is based on learning from others, not personal experience.

 

[dirtshooter]

Very informative posts here, thank you everyone. Here in AB we have CTOMS so I believe I could buy tourniquets from them.

I know one can apply a TQ to themselves for practice, does this render that TQ useless after? Should I buy one just for practicing applications?

 

[Sled]

Very informative posts here, thank you everyone. Here in AB we have CTOMS so I believe I could buy tourniquets from them.

I know one can apply a TQ to themselves for practice, does this render that TQ useless after? Should I buy one just for practicing applications?

You can reuse them if you don't pop stitches during practice. A quality brand will be fine, assuming you're limited in practice use and not teaching classes. I retire them them after they reach exp date(~10 yrs), get left out in the sun or go on a patient.

 

[Marbles]

Very informative posts here, thank you everyone. Here in AB we have CTOMS so I believe I could buy tourniquets from them.

I know one can apply a TQ to themselves for practice, does this render that TQ useless after? Should I buy one just for practicing applications?

I would not practice with one to be carried. It puts stress on the components and could lead to failure. I have broken a CAT tourniquet putting it on my thigh for a demonstration, it had been used for training prior (teaching classes, so a lot of training).

It will probably work fine after practicing with it, but for a life saving device that is cheap, why run the risk.

 

[dirtshooter]

I would not practice with one to be carried. It puts stress on the components and could lead to failure. I have broken a CAT tourniquet putting it on my thigh for a demonstration, it had been used for training prior (teaching classes, so a lot of training).

It will probably work fine after practicing with it, but for a life saving device that is cheap, why run the risk.

Thanks for answering. I figured that was the case.

 

[Gotcha_]

hopping in to this thread to see where it goes

 

[dirtshooter]

I bought some cheap TQs off of amazon to practice with. After seeing how easy it was to apply and stop the pulse I will be buying a quality CAT TQ to add to my first aid kid. Even my wife was interested in the application, stating something about not relying on the ambulance to arrive fast enough.

 

[Dannybow]

I wrap all my stuff inside a sam splint that is held together by Voile rubber straps which are extremely handy themselves.
Got the idea from Cody Townsend (pro skier) in his fifty project which you can find on youtube.