Whats in your first aid kit?

[SonnyDay]

I would just add exam gloves... to protect you and the patient depending on conditions, people, etc.

 

[mtwarden]

I carry most of what's on these lists. The one thing you may want to consider is Coban. It's a very universal wrap that clings to itself even if you are sweaty, bloody or hairy. You can use it to "tape" down a bandage or use it as a compression wrap and you'll get less movement out of it then you would a traditional Ace style bandage. I used it for years as a Medic and I wouldn't be caught without it.

I just added that to mine. The rolls I got are 3" x 15'. I took it off the roll to make it more compact (folded flat)- weighs a scant 0.6 oz; could have used some on my recent week long snowshoe trip!

I would just add exam gloves... to protect you and the patient depending on conditions, people, etc.

good idea-guessing many folks have a couple of pairs in their kill kit (I do)

 

[cfdjay]

I know there are (and have been) people on here that will disagree with me but I'd add painkillers. The argument against them was OTC meds had the same clinical efficacy as say percs or oxys WITHOUT the cognition loss. My firsthand experience (inner city medic) says otherwise. So when I slip off some deadfall and snap tib/fib, I want it less bad.

 

[SonnyDay]

good idea-guessing many folks have a couple of pairs in their kill kit (I do)

I do as well. But there was a whole thread on here a while back about how exam gloves for gutting/field dressing are for sissies (I disagree).

And good call on the Coban. That stuff is great.

 

[Delta21]

Following as well

 

[mtwarden]

I know there are (and have been) people on here that will disagree with me but I'd add painkillers. The argument against them was OTC meds had the same clinical efficacy as say percs or oxys WITHOUT the cognition loss. My firsthand experience (inner city medic) says otherwise. So when I slip off some deadfall and snap tib/fib, I want it less bad.

I was going to ask my physician for a prescription of like 6, what would be the best pain killer for a backcountry scenario?

 

[cfdjay]

I was going to ask my physician for a prescription of like 6, what would be the best pain killer for a backcountry scenario?

Opioids in general affect people differently. I would think back to if you've ever taken any in the past for surgeries or recovery from injury and ask yourself how you did on it. I for one hate Percocet. It makes me want to crawl out of my skin. And of course, talk to your doctor.

 

[scott85]

@mtwarden Toradol would be safer than opioids and a doctor would be more likely to prescribe for a just in case scenario.

 

[cfdjay]

Here is a great article with great discussion:

Backcountry First Aid Kit, By Richard Rhodes

A topic we see come up quite often on Rokslide is backcountry first aid. I would think most of us bring at least some kind of first aid kit whenever we hit the hills on a hunt but most probably have no idea what they are carrying and how to use it. Richard Rhodes is an avid outdoorsman who...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Clarktar]

Advil , luekto tape, two large bandaids, couple nuggets of weed, vicadin and benadryl. I think I have a piece of gauze also.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[BDRam16]

Fire based paramedic and SWAT team medic....my best advice to people is this. If you need a tourniquet, you need it now. A tourniquet in a dry bag in your pack on your back is less than ideal. Especially solo or in a self-application scenario. It needs to be in a pocket or ideally in a MOLLE holder on the waist band of your pack. Don’t buy medical equipment on eBay/Amazon. It is fake. It will break. Watched a fake CAT snap in training. The OLAES bandage is one of the most complete 1 piece set you can get; pressure bandage, gauze, exit wound cup, chest seal all in one package. I would also say either a flexible splint or knowledge on how to make one would be ideal. A broken leg is far more realistic than a GSW or broadhead through the thigh.

Take whatever OTC meds you want for your own comfort. Bleeding control is really the only life saving measure in the backcountry that will help. Just being brutally honest. If someone needs CPR or something other than a tourniquet/pressure bandage it’s going to be a recovery, not a rescue.

 

[SonnyDay]

Got a recommended supplier besides BezosBay? Thanks!

 

[kordo]

This is what I usually bring out for pack hunting:

• 2 tourniquets, one of which is rubber banded to my bino harness so its immediately on hand
• 4" and 6" Israeli bandages
• hemostatic gauze
• a shit ton of kerlix
• 2 large elastic bandages
• trauma shears
• 2 sam splints
• 2 triangle bandages
• 1 NPA
• chest seal
• 2 10ga ARS needles
• tape

Its basically just an army CLS bag. I don't plan on getting shot hunting, but I'm sure the guys you see on the news didn't either. Better to be prepared than wish I had something.
Worth noting that a chunk of that list is to save my hunting partners, not me. If I need a chest seal or an ARS decompression while I'm alone, its probably game over...
I have everything in a small pouch that MOLLE weaves onto my pack so its easily accessible.

 

[Marbles]

I carry much less now than I did years ago. The only medical specific things I carry now are:
-Celox Gause (a better alternative to Quick Clot)
-Triangular bandage
-Ibuprofen
-Space blanket
-NEXCARE bandages
-inReach
-Avi gear (in winter)

I can repurpose:
-Trekking poles
-Needle driver
-Knife
-Duck tape/electrical tape
-Water filter
-Shelter/sleep system/stove/food for hypothermia
-Electrolyte drink mix

For anyone wanting to add prescription drugs, skip the opioids and discuss the below study with your provider https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6089685/

Take whatever OTC meds you want for your own comfort. Bleeding control is really the only life saving measure in the backcountry that will help. Just being brutally honest. If someone needs CPR or something other than a tourniquet/pressure bandage it’s going to be a recovery, not a rescue.

The exception is hypoxic arrests, such as drowning. Depending on how far along in the dying process the person is, you have a cause that is reversable without meds/surgeon. Due to the profoundly neuroprotective effect of hypothermia, that is one other situation where CPR in the back country might save someone (of course if the person is not actually in arrest the compressions will likely put them in it). Tension pneumothorax is also field reversable, but not for those without training and not with CPR.

But, over all I completely agree. I stopped trying to carry a resus bay with me years ago. Falls, drowning, avalanches, heart attacks, and exposure are what kill the majority of people in the back country. Looking at that list, adding a single aspirin to the kit might be worth while.

 

[Rokwiia]

-Celox Gause (a better alternative to Quick Clot)

Why do you consider Celox Gause a better alternative?

 

[Marbles]

Why do you consider Celox Gause a better alternative?

Celox works in the absence of a functional clotting cascade. Quick Clot does not. So, in the civilian world where quite a few people take anticoagulants it is more likely to work on everyone.

Unless you, or someone you go out with, take anticoagulants (or have a bleeding disorder), if you already have Quick Clot I would not spend the money to switch until you are replacing the Quick Clot anyway.

There are other things that disrupt the clotting cascade, but if you are experiencing one of them and having major bleeding in the back country that is a very bad day (that is a bad day even if you are in a trauma bay at a good trauma center). In such a situation, I will take whatever advantage I can get, but all of it will likely be pissing into the wind.

 

[Wetwork]

I just added that to mine. The rolls I got are 3" x 15'. I took it off the roll to make it more compact (folded flat)- weighs a scant 0.6 oz; could have used some on my recent week long snowshoe trip!

good idea-guessing many folks have a couple of pairs in their kill kit (I do)

I carry rolls and rolls of that in all all my vehicles and packs....But I buy the vet tape for for horses and cattle. Ten times cheaper, its the same stuff and comes in all sorts of neat colors.-WW

 

[kpbrown31]

I carry rolls and rolls of that in all all my vehicles and packs....But I buy the vet tape for for horses and cattle. Ten times cheaper, its the same stuff and comes in all sorts of neat colors.-WW

Isn’t it amazing what you can get from your local vet and it’s cheaper/identical to what’s used inside the walls of a hospital.

 

[Wetwork]

Isn’t it amazing what you can get from your local vet and it’s cheaper/identical to what’s used inside the walls of a hospital.

Our ranch vet has been with us over forty years. I'd often take my kids to him to x-ray, just to make sure I really had to go to the ER . He taught us how to suture, and do IV"s. I'd take him over a human doctor any day.-WW

 

[Cephalopodan]

2 tourniquets at least. Once one goes on it never comes off. My training has always taught that if you need one you will likely use another to ensure bleeding is fully stopped. The TQ is the most valuable piece of kit in a trauma bag with the most life saving potential.