Diving Safety Kits by Doctors?

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King_Neptune

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Doctors, Nurses, Medics, etc ...

I was interested in if those of you within the Medical community might all share with us what you see as being your recommended list of ingredients for the average diver to gather up to make the best "Safety Kit" possible.

Since many of the Doctors have different specialties and viewpoints I would think that together, as a group effort, quite the Complete kit could be put together. Sadly enough, so many of the kits that are out there would barely suffice if you tripped and skinned your knee. For example, it's far and few that you can find a decent kit containing things that I would think should be standard. For example, as an avid Surfer for many years, we always kept at least a little container handy with vinegar in it (jellyfish) yet I've only seen a couple of the Super Expensive dive kits with that in it.

Are there other suggestions you could all share with us?

=-)


 
Hello:

Here is a kit that I recommend as a starter. It can be used to build for your own needs and casn be as small or large as you would personally care.

The following items are offered as an example of a list of first aid supplies which can be modified according to your needs and experience. This is a section taken from 'Divemaster's Quick Accident Response' and is the first of a series from that web site.

Gloves
Deodorant cleansing soap (antibacterial)
Household Vinegar solution (neutralize jellyfish stings)
Household ammonia
Antibiotic Ointment
Cortisone Cream 1%
Non-aspirin pain reliever
Hot packs
Cold packs (pain relief)
Denatured alcohol, 12 oz. bottle (sterilizing instruments)
Telfa pads or plastic wrap (cover burns)
Absorbent dressings (control severe bleeding with pressure)
Squeeze bottle of water, 6 oz. (irrigating eyes and wounds)
Squeeze bottle of sterile saline
Sterile cotton, gauze pads, and adhesive tape
Band-Aids and butterfly bandages
Q-Tips
Tongue depressors
Disposable cups
Razor blades, single edged
Shaving cream
Tweezers or forceps
Needle nosed pliers with wire cutters (to remove fishhooks)
Bandage scissors
Lighter or waterproof matches
Space blankets
Backboard, splints and neckbrace, if space permits
Penlight
Seasickness medication
Pocket mask (eliminates direct contact while resuscitating a
person)
------------------------------------------------------------

For purposes of hospital and insurance follow-up and to
avoid any legal problems, it would be a good idea to
record as many of the events as possible during an
episode. A pen and small notebook would be good to
have in this respect.
------------------------------------------------------------

None of these items will be of any use at all if there's no one on the boat who knows how to administer first aid. All divemasters and instructors should be fully certified in First Aid and their certification should be up-dated at least yearly.
------------------------------------------------------------

Oxygen should be an absolute necessity on a dive boat and
would certainly be helpful on any boat. Knowledge is needed as the appropriate local emergency information number to call and this information should be readily available in the First Aid kit. If the kit is used, it should be immediately replenished and should be up dated every 6 months to a year depending on the types of medications it contains.
 
As always, Dr. Campbell has a super answer. If you were to carry a first aid kit, that's what you'd want in it (give or take). I have to admit that I don't carry a first aid kit myself, and I'll give you my rationale.

I probably do most of my diving from day boats on vacation in populated areas, on liveaboards, or as local shore dives close to home. A big first aid kit is too bulky and heavy to take on the plane and then lug onto the boat. If you sustain a minor injury on the boat, it will usually wait until you get back to town. In the unlikely event you have a major injury, you probably won't have what you need to take care of it in a first aid kit anyway. Liveaboards generally have stuff on board to hold you until the helicopter gets there (paper towels and duct tape will do in a pinch), but I do carry a supply of bandaids because liveaboards tend to run out. Shore diving locally is where a first aid kit would most likely be of use, particularly if you dive in more remote areas. It would be easy to carry in the car, and if you happened to have an injury, you wouldn't get so much blood on the car.

I do carry a supply of over-the-counter (OTC) "comfort" medications on trips. It's easy to keep all of the below in a small, light, easy to pack kit.

When diving in salt water I keep a couple of small spray bottles (from The Container Store) of vinegar in my dive bag for hydroid (jellyfish, coral, etc.) stings. A spray is easier to apply evenly than pouring, so if you have a spray bottle you can carry a smaller supply. This I take on the boat. The rest will be back at the hotel.

I carry the non-aspirin pain reliever that Dr. Campbell mentioned (eg Tylenol) for those aches and fevers and ibuprofen (eg Nuprin, Advil, etc.) for aches, fever, and inflammation. Naproxen (eg Aleve) is in the ibuprofen/aspirn family and is a good choice too.

The cortisone cream he mentioned is a must-have for any dive trip. It will help relieve the symptoms from hydroids and bug bites and stings. It is also good for those mysterious rashes that show up sometimes or anything that itches.

Diphenhydramine (eg Benedryl) antihistamine pills and cream are good for allergic reactions.

Meclizine (eg Dramamine Less Drowsy, Bonine) is my OTC med of choice for seasickness. It is also in the antihistamine family and will do in an emergency if you don't have Benedryl.

Pepto-Bismol is the OTC drug of choice for traveler's diarrhea IMHO. It not only physically slows the diarrhea it also absorbs some of the nastier bacterias' toxins to keep them from making you so sick. It can also be taken as a preventative to keep you from getting traveler's diarrhea on your trip. Immodium will also stop the diarrhea, but sometimes works so well that you'll stop for a week. It also does nothing about the toxins from the bad bacteria and can actually make an illness worse in some cirumstances.

A 12 hour formulation of pseudoephedrine (eg 12-Hour Sudafed) is my pick for sinus and ear congestion, to help with equalization, and to ease the symptoms from sinus and ear barotrauma.

A 12 hour oxymetazoline nasal spray (eg Afrin) can also help with congestion and equalization. Shorter acting decongestants wear off too fast IMHO.

An antacid type medicine is handy to have around for all those strange foods you eat on vacation. They can also help settle the stomach sometimes if the meclizine doesn't work. Pepto-Bismol will do, but tends to be constipating. Liquid antacids are sometimes messy, and antacid tablets are too short acting. I like to keep an OTC medicine in the H-2 blocker family in my kit. Some examples would be Tagamet, Zantac, Pepcid, and Axid. Pepcid and Axid are longer acting. (Can you tell that I like longer acting meds for most applications?)

Eardrops for swimmer's ear are good to have around if you tend to get irritation of your external ear canals from diving. You can make your own (formulas are here on the Scuba Board site in other threads and on Dr. Campbell's web site). Otic Domeboro is my preferred eardrop, but it is by prescription only in the US. Star Otic is an OTC eardrop that closely approximates Otic Domeboro, and I think the best if you want to buy it at the store.

I keep a couple of prescription medicines in my kit too. I keep Transderm-Scop patches as my Rx drug of choice for seasickness, and I keep an antibiotic appropriate for the really bad cases of traveler's diarrhea. A prescription anti-malarial might be appropriate for some dive trips.

This isn't an all inclusive list. I probably left something out.

All of the above can help make a dive trip more pleasant or even salvage a trip. But keep in mind that any medicine you take hoping it will have an effect can also have a side effect- whether it's by prescription, OTC, or "all natural". I could come up with a pretty good scenario for each of the above medicines where they should NOT be used when diving. Before you take any medicine you should make yourself aware of what's in it, what it's supposed to do for you, what it can do to you, and which individuals should not take it. Of course any prescription medicine should be taken only with the advice of a physician.

HTH,

Bill
 
Doc's,

This is exactly what I was hoping for... I love scubadoc's list and as complete as it was BillP listed something I wouldn't have thought about and could make the difference between a good day diving and a rather poor time. Thank you both for your input and I welcome anyone elses input too.

=-)

 
What's the shaving cream for? I keep reading about non-aspirin pain relievers. Why non-aspirin? Is it because of the blood thinning properties?
 
Hi Dee:

I was wondering about the shaving cream too. Maybe for those razor blades, single edged? I'm sure Dr. Campbell will enlighten us.

When you hear "non-aspirin pain reliever" it generally means acetaminophen (Tylenol). Tylenol is a good pain reliever, and reduces fever too. It is non-irritating to the stomach lining and doesn't directly affect blood clotting. If you take more than 4 grams of Tylenol in a day (8 "Extra Strength" 500 mg pills or 12 "Regular Strength" 325mg pills), take it when you've been drinking alcohol, or take it in maximum doses for over 10 days it can cause serious and even fatal liver damage. Unlike medicines in the aspirin family, it has no anti-inflammatory effects.

The other major class of over-the-counter pain relievers are the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID's). These would include aspirin, ibuprofen (eg Nuprin, Advil, Motrin), and naproxen (eg Aleve). The NSAID's also work well for pain and reduce fever, and they do have an anti-inflammatory effect. Inflammation can be a big part of pain and fighting the inflammation can even reduce damage or aid healing to a degree. The NSAID's can be irritating to the stomach lining. They also affect the blood clotting cells (platelets) and can prolong or even cause bleeding.

Acetaminophen and NSAID's can be taken together and their effects might be more or less additive depending on what you're taking them for. I bring both along on trips. (Acetaminophen and ibuprofen.)

HTH,

Bill
 
Shaving cream is used to remove nematocytes. It keeps them from firing off during removal.
 
Thanks Doc, I hadn't heard that about shaving cream. That's what I use the vinegar for, but I can see how the soap in shaving cream might facilitate the removal of attached jellyfish tentacles.

Do you know what it is in the shaving cream that stabilizes the nematocysts? For example, would menthol be good or bad?

Bill
 
I think it's just the physical effect of getting the nematocytes off the skin without causing them to fire off.
 
Guess I'll be raiding Beasts shaving kit! For those nasty nematocytes I've used a small bit of Scotch Brite scrub pad soaked in vinegar to gently 'scrub' the affected area. I got the idea after paying way too much ($5) for one of the Wipe Out pads in the dive shop.

Bill, I usually depend on ibuprofen 800mg BID to take care of the inflamation in my knees. I seldom take it 10 days in a row.

Thanks Docs for the info.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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