World's Best First Aid kit

[louxwe]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to put together my own First Aid kit since most of what I have seen available are overpriced and not that good. Thought we could come up with the world's best list of what to put in a first aid kit. Should be fairly inclusive, list to include O2, but not so much to include surgical devices and mobile deco units. Something to throw in the back of the car or boat that pretty much covers the majority of diving incidents. Anybody have their list already?

Thanks,
LouX

[openmindOW]

Interesting question that I have asked myself over the years.

You are probably going to get a lot of good ansers. But rememebr that you are not going to have room for everything. There is always a trade-off between size and inclusiveness.

My experience has been that you have to have a kit that is based on the individual circumstances of your dive trip.

Obviously, there is a big difference between diving in a remote rural location that lacks fast medical evac capacity and diving in a lake with an on-site dive shop and with reliaibly quick emergency medical response capacity. Proximity to a pharmacy is another consideration.

I do a lot of teaching quarries, most of which have access to emergency medical care.

I used to bring a big medical kit to every dive outing. But I never had to use most of the kit's items. I never had to use the trauma items for serious bleeding or splinting.

The only thing I found myself taking from the med Kit for fellow divers was Sudafed and Advil.

I have had to break-out my O2 kit, as I have been involved with rescues. The O2 kit is important.

I would also recommend SunBlock and Purell.

I also carry a Tick Removal Kit - yes, that's right. I live on the Atlantic Coast of the USA and we have a pretty serious problem with Lymes Disease, which ticks carry. I have never yet had to break-out the Tick Kit, but it is something I carry anyway.

I no longer carry a splint in my kit. In my circumstances, I am just not going to need it, because we have easy access to quick medical care and ambulances.

I also recommend SunBlock and Purell and extra drinking water. Those aren't necessarily med kit supplies but they can be important for protecting one's health.

And bring EMT shears. If you have to cut-off the top of a diver's wetsuit, good shears are important.

Just my opinion.

[Hetland]

Can't ever do without:

vinegar = jellyfish
benadryl = alergic reactions
4x4 bandages
tape
cigarette lighter = (see needle)
needles = splinters
tweezers
soap

everything else is just gravy, but those up top are essential (at least imho)

[EastEndDiver]

Duct tape it made it possible for me to do a second dive after a moray shredded my left index finger in Grand Cayman.Didn't want to miss the second dive.

[slingshot]

Contents should depend on availability of trained responders and proximity to advanced medical care.

Among the available but less conventional things I would consider, which by the way is strictly a personal consideration not advice:

A hemostatic agent such as Chitosan.
A good pressure dressing.
An epinephrine injector ("epi pen") and benadryl
Chemical cold pack.

[AlGator]

For our kit it mostly includes a cut and punture kit and we dive around alot of limestone and foot and hand injuries are seen also duct tape and ace bandages and hot and cold packs for the sprained ankles and twisted knees upon entry to the dive sites. Oh yeah alcohol lots of it the kind you drink to lol!! Of course its for the pain after the dive :P

[PfcAJ]

Some suggestions:
A SAM Splint. It rolls up real small and has 101 uses
A few rolls or Kerlix (or the brand of your choice) gauze
Benedryl, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Immodium, Dramamine
Ace bandage and a few instant cold packs
Tape, band-aides, 4x4s, trauma shears, and Neosporin
A REAL good pair of tweezers
A small flashlight.

[TSandM]

Kerlix is a good one, but I really like the big, stretchy, transparent adhesive bandages we call Tegaderm in the hospital. You can buy them OTC under various brand names. They're adhesive enough to pull wounds together for temporary (or, if I'm honest, even permanent) repair.

A heavy corrugated cardboard box, disassembled and stored flat somewhere in your vehicle, can be cut and put together very nicely as a temporary splint. A large bandana or other square of fabric can make a quick sling, too.

Vetwrap, or Koban (stretchy, often bright-colored stuff that sticks to itself) is nice for bandaging, since it doesn't require tape or pins.

If you have any leftover pain medication from surgery or an injury, keeping a couple of tablets handy can be nice, too. Especially if someone gets injured (eg. breaks a bone) on a boat, having some pain medication to get on board during the uncomfortable travel and transfer can make life a lot more pleasant.

[Steve_Dives]

My kit is fairly comprehensive since the dive sites are served by volunteer EMS, and they go home sometime at night. If there were a significant injury, it could be awhile for the real medical assistance to arrive.

We often camp at our dive site. I add antacids, stuff to treat burns, and stuff for some more significant cuts since we sometimes prepare hearty food (knife cuts).

I have a medicine chest in my kit. Cold medicine, sinus stuff, pain meds, allergy, PMS, and if someone asks for something I don't have I try to add it the next time I'm at the store. That's my way of ensuring I don't offer a med, I just supply what someone asked for.

I also carry feminine hygiene products because they can pull double duty as trauma dressings (sterile dressings cover the wound first).

Then there's stuff that doesn't typically fall into the first aid kit category... I always have a shelter. If it's cold, I have a heater and generally have the means to make hot food. If it's hot, I have more water than I'll ever need and usually sports drinks. I also throw battery powered fans. Extra towels and extra sweat shirts & pants. And a few battery powered lights including one that clamps to a table and has a long flexible neck.

[emttim]

Originally Posted by PfcAJ

Some suggestions:
A SAM Splint. It rolls up real small and has 101 uses
A few rolls or Kerlix (or the brand of your choice) gauze
Benedryl, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Immodium, Dramamine
Ace bandage and a few instant cold packs
Tape, band-aides, 4x4s, trauma shears, and Neosporin
A REAL good pair of tweezers
A small flashlight.

Excellent advice. I'd add that instead of a SAM splint, since they're 10-15 bucks a pop, just get some cardboard splints. A few of varying sizes will be plenty and you can cut them to adjust to the patient's arm which you can't necessarily do for a SAM splint. You'll want plenty of 4x4s and maybe 2x2s for smaller injuries as well as plenty of Kerlix. Bloodstoppers are good too for injuries. Cold packs are great, ace bandages wouldn't hurt (no pun intended), hot packs may be useful in case of hypothermia, trauma shears are a must, medical tape can be used for anything up to and including putting a car back together :P

The other stuff I can think of is Betadine, iodine or rubbing alcohol for wound disinfection. For the layperson, that's about all I can think of. Quite honestly, if you just had a few "sterile" t-shirts you could get by with wound control because all you need for bleeding is something clean that can absorb blood, and preferably, be used to wrap around the wound.

Originally Posted by TSandM

Kerlix is a good one, but I really like the big, stretchy, transparent adhesive bandages we call Tegaderm in the hospital. You can buy them OTC under various brand names. They're adhesive enough to pull wounds together for temporary (or, if I'm honest, even permanent) repair.

A heavy corrugated cardboard box, disassembled and stored flat somewhere in your vehicle, can be cut and put together very nicely as a temporary splint. A large bandana or other square of fabric can make a quick sling, too.

Vetwrap, or Koban (stretchy, often bright-colored stuff that sticks to itself) is nice for bandaging, since it doesn't require tape or pins.

If you have any leftover pain medication from surgery or an injury, keeping a couple of tablets handy can be nice, too. Especially if someone gets injured (eg. breaks a bone) on a boat, having some pain medication to get on board during the uncomfortable travel and transfer can make life a lot more pleasant.

Great idea until you find out they're allergic to OxyContin, Vicodin or whatever you gave them. In that case, may want to keep a whole lot of Benadryl on hand. :P I don't know how likely the chance of someone having an allergy to opiates is, but due to the possibility, I don't see how using leftover prescription meds could be a good idea.

Better just to keep some NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen on hand.