I ask this because I just finished packing a pocket sized mini first aid kit, using supplies from our full size home kit. I’m sure people will mostly agree with the contents I packed, but does anyone have any other suggestions?
This is the kit I packed today, should I try to add anything else? There’s not much space left, but I can probably stuff a couple other flat packet items in there, so am I like missing anything obvious that might fit?
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I have a leatherman squirt multitool, has a blade and scissors. And yeah, paracetamol, Codeine, loperimide. Bandages, glue. I keep some electrical tape in there as well, not necessary first aid, but so useful.
My personal philosophy with first aid kits is to start from treating life threatening wounds and then build up from there so the three absolutely most crucial pieces would be:
- Tourniquet
- Pressure dressing (e.g. Israeli bandage or OLAES) - for bleeding that doesn’t require a tourniquet.
- Hemostatic gauze (like QuikClot) - helps stop bleeding, especially for junctional wounds (groin, armpits)
- Tiny bottle of artificial tears - great for flushing stuff out of your eyes, offers some relief if hit by tear gas or pepper spray too
- Tweezers
- Scissors, unless you carry some kind of blade anyway
Gloves!! A pair or two of nitrile gloves takes almost no space. If you’re patching up someone who isn’t in your immediate circle, you have no idea what’s swimming around in their blood, so always use gloves before handling it.
Similarly, another thing that I like to keep handy - but never actually see in things like commercial 1st aid kits, is a CPR sheet with a 1-way-valve: https://www.redcross.org/store/first-aid-supplies/cpr-keychains
Giving rescue breaths without it risks picking up things like oral herpes.
Interesting, and good advice.
It’s late here, I ain’t about to repack the kit now, but that did cross my mind earlier. Would be nice if gloves are packed into some sort of flat-pack, as I don’t have much space left.
Hope you checked my link to see what all I did manage to pack in the pocket kit…
I actually have some experience with this!
I travel a lot and always have an IFAK and a somewhat extensive “boo boo” kit.
The IFAK covers serious trauma, car crashes, GSWs, whatever. Haven’t had to use this thank fuck. Standard stuff though, take your Stop The Bleed. I carry a tourniquet (I like snake staff systems), compressed gauze, pressure dressing, chest seals, trauma scissors, gloves. You can safely reduce this to the tourniquet and the gauze for 90% of use cases though.
The boo boo kit contains more comfort items, stuff to turn a moderately bad day into a mild inconvenience. It has a bunch of stuff but by FAR the most used items are these in order of frequency:
Ibuprofen - carry many doses
Small bandages - 3M Nexcare are the good ones
Moleskin - helps with shoe blisters, friends use it a lot
Deviant ollam folding scissors - for cutting moleskin, hangnails, whatever. TSA doesn’t care about them.
Pseudoephedrine - the behind the counter stuff, NOT phenylephrine from the aisles. This is the good stuff, helps with allergies, mild colds etc.
Moleskin is also a great way to fix pokey underwire bras
What scissors? I’m not getting anything particular tied to Deviant Ollam
Umm…
Context?
They’re asking what the parent commenter meant by “deviant ollam folding scissors.”
I definitely forgot the moleskin in mine. I’ll have to add that in next time I’m home.
Add crazy glue as an emergency substitute for stitches for mild to moderate cuts.
Triangular bandages, a shit ton of band aids, polysporin, medical tape, n95 masks, finger splints, duct tape, all the usual over the counter meds like pepto bismol and ibuprofen/naproxen sodium, salicylic acid. A laxative, anti diarrheal, some just add water electrolyte beverage solution, aloe vera, aveeno moisturizer, petroleum Jelly and a bottle of gin and a bottle of whiskey. Medicinal, of course.
Crazy glue sounds great too, but not for a pocket size kit that’s gonna get tossed in our glovebox. Check the link I posted to see what all I packed…
Still, all advice is awesome, but also depends on the size of the first aid box…
There are very small crazy glue tubes.
That’s not the point. The point is that this is gonna get stored in our glovebox, which will get hot and dry out in the heat of the sun.
Not saying that heat won’t gradually degrade the other items, that’s entirely possible, but if super glue is in there and decides to leak in even the slightest, it’ll ruin everything else…
I’d still do it. A tiny superglue vial, even one that leaks, won’t ruin anything.
Edit: Also probably won’t leak.
You’ve clearly never worked with superglue then.
Last night I had to use a rasp file to file superglue off of my fingers, because the tube busted on me when trying to open it.
Note that I didn’t say I filed my fingernails, I literally had to file my fingers, using a rasp file meant for wood no less.
I ain’t trying to test and see if everything in an emergency kit might get glued together…
You’ve clearly never worked with superglue then.
Maybe I have, used for moderate lacerations, and I don’t suck? Maybe.
Cool cool 👍
Contents?
I have everything there except the pouch… 👍
At least a couple bandaids
Good advice 👍
Check the link I posted for the kit I packed, there’s 1 large, 2 medium and 2 small bandages, along with a 2x2 inch sterile absorbent pad and some medical tape.
Amongst other things from our full size home first aid kit.
Probably just a pair of scisors, a roll of bandage, alcohol, and paracetamol (a.k.a. acetaminophen).
Check the link I posted, most of that is already in there, minus the scissors. It’s a mini pocket sized kit, plus I also carry a multi-tool in a different pocket, so if cutting clothes or whatever becomes necessary, I got that covered too…
I’m a sideshow performer, and I bring one to every show. Mine has:
- Bandaids in multiple sizes
- Liquid bandaid
- Alcohol wipes
- Neosporin
- Sometimes aloe or burn gel if I’m doing fire (packets are best but hard to find)
- Tweezers
I keep mine small for portability, but you can always add on (gauze, medical tape, splints, absorbent pads, etc). They also sell first aid kits at most pharmacies of various sizes that can be easily refilled after.
Are liquid bandages fairly common in pharmacies now?
They sound convenient.
Are they much pricier than a box of bandaids?
What is their shelf life/storage conditions like?
I keep it for treating needle and stapler wounds which are rather small, but that’s also an unusual use case. It’s honestly inferior to regular bandaids if a wound is still bleeding. You’d probably be fine without it, I just find it more convenient than sticking bandaids everywhere.
I’ve easily found it in both the US and Canada, it’s usually about $10 a bottle
Thanks, I hadn’t realized it had become so commonplace.
Liquid bandage is basically super glue. Not good to keep in an emergency kit, especially in a hot vehicle glove box, that stuff will either leak out or harden in the tube, if not both, and you only find out the hard way when you need it.
Don’t get me wrong, liquid bandage/super glue is useful in a pinch, I’ve used it myself, but you don’t wanna store volatile chemicals like that in an emergency kit.
Got it, I asked because I travel a lot and suspected the chemicals might not do great in varying climates or drastic elevation changes.
Still cool, are they pretty common in pharmacies these days? and super expensive or not too crazy?
Honestly I don’t know what the prices are on liquid bandage, the only tiny bottle I ever got was given to me. That bottle had a brush on the cap, similar to a nail polish brush.
As far as I’m aware, liquid bandage is more or less super glue with a bit of nail polish remover (acetone?) mixed in to somewhat slow curing time.
I just ended up using straight super glue on one particular wound, which indeed worked, but yeah super glue cures pretty damn fast, especially when it gets wet…
Gotcha thanks.
I went to a dentist once in Utah who was super cool and we talked for a while and when he was finishing up refitting a crown he was like look I’m definitely not supposed to say this, but if you don’t want to pay a hundred bucks to refit a crown or you’re not near a dentist office, you can absolutely use super glue.
And I was like “is that not toxic?”
And he shrugged and was like “I mean a little but not much.”
I’m more interested in trying it out as a topical bandage.
You know that flap of ‘webbing’ skin between your thumb and your index finger? Yeah, I had that ripped down to where I could literally see my tendons working…
Here in the USA, hospital bills are ridiculous! So, after like a half hour of washing and waiting for the bleeding to slow almost to a stop, I used super glue and a piece of paper towel to patch over it.
Since it cured so fast, I had to use some acetone to rub over the top of my wound patch, to smooth out the rough dried glue. Then I went and bought a pair of bicycle gloves. I only needed the right glove, to protect my homemade bandage.
Every 2 or 3 days, I had to maintain my bandage rigup, which basically meant peel that shit off, investigate, and use tweezers to pull super glue out of the wound as it healed. I wasn’t looking to have super glue get grown in under the skin ya know…
It took about a month before it fully healed, no noticeable scar and no stitches. Hand works fine too. 👍
Disclaimer: Not a doctor, I just did what I felt best, and it worked.
Glad to hear it worked out so well for you! Thanks for the testimony, I’ve heard super glue prevents scars but yours is the first personal confirmation, very cool.
You’re like 90℅ of the way there to the mini kit I packed, check the link I posted.
The container I packed is rather limited in size, so I basically only packed flat-pack items. So no tweezers and no liquid bandage (which is basically super glue).
Sadly our full size home first aid kit only has one packet of burn treatment gel, so I decided to leave that in the home kit, as I figure burns are more probable at home in the kitchen, especially given my roommate’s childhood kitchen injury that burned over a quarter of his back.
I highly recommend getting a set of nice tweezers in there if you can. I use mine way too fucking much. It’s necessary for things like splinters and ticks, and overall just very useful for various reasons.
I forgot to add, Benadryl is a good thing to have as well in case of allergic reactions. Also keep some emergency contacts in there.
sideshow performer
???
I’m not personally a sword swallower like the other guy said, but many of my friends are. Personally I use fire, staples, needles, nails, power tools, and knives a lot on stage. It’s a weird artform but we (at least the professionals) take things like hygiene and biohazards seriously.
It used to be called freak show in the past. It still is but the term has died out a little bit.
It’s actually pretty cool to see someone online that does this kind of thing. Thanks for talking about it.
Sword swallower maybe? That’s a common sideshow thing. Also driving nails through various body parts.
Decide what your end goal is. Trauma kit, or just an ouch pouch? For basic injuries I pack adhesive bandages of various sizes, a little bit of gauze to help slow down a decent cut before bandaging, some ibuprofen, gloves, burn ointment, and maybe some antiseptic towelettes. In my camping ouch pouch I add in Neosporin for bug bites, tick tweezers, instant cold packs, and some nausea medicine.
In my portable trauma kit (it’s actually a small pack with both ouch and emergency compartments), I have more gloves, a fair bit of different sized packing gauze (quick clot), a compression bandage, emergency foil blanket, chest seals, a sharpie, and mounted on the outside are trauma shears and a CAT Gen 5 tourniquet in a dedicated holster. As a bonus, I have a moldable splint in an emergency survival bag with the rest of my kit.
If I remember, I can share some pics in a few days.
Cool cool, make sure to check the link I posted.
My kit is basically a pocket kit ‘ouch pouch’ as you call it, so basically only flat-pack items in there, I don’t think I can safely fit any metal items such as tweezers in there without risking puncturing one or more of the packets.
We do have a full size home first aid kit, which is where I got most of the supplies for this mini pocket kit, meant to go in our glove box for road trips.
Scissors.
Tourniquet.
Of all the things that you should have a tourniquet will be one of the few things that will mean the difference between life and death.
I’m not about to put metal tools in this kit, only to find they somehow puncture or damage the contents of the kit.
I do have a separate multi-tool that I carry in a different pocket though, so loosely speaking, I have something of equivalent tools readily available. 👍
Tourniquet? If that ever becomes necessary, I’ll quickly cut my shirt and make something positive happen.
Short won’t really do it.
Medical scissors don’t puncture.
Did you check the link I posted?
I don’t think there’s even any room for any sort of mechanical devices.
I do keep a multi-tool in a different pocket on me at basically all times, so if cutting is necessary, I more or less got that covered anyways.
Yup. I made one about the same size with a tourniquet strapped to the side and a small blunt scissors to safely cut away clothing fast.
You might consider splitting it into two separate containers, one with first aid components (bandaids, etc) and the second with medications (Tylenol, etc).
I’d consider: a tiny packet of crazy glue. Ultra-thin 2-inch blade
. A small pair of tweezers. A couple restaurant packets of sugar, for diabetics.I’m not really looking to expand it past the mini single pocket kit I’ve arranged. My two main risks are between busted knees or busted knuckles, but I also have allergies and occasional belly issues, hence the benadryl and pepto bismol.
But of course I have a little diversity of bandages, along with some medical tape. Hard pressed to fit much else in there though, especially any actual mechanical items.
But… In my other pocket, I carry a Nextool Card Tool…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uh1Qu6lcA4E
Yeah it might not be the most functional tool in the world, but it’s actually amazingly well made for what it is, and part of my everyday carry.
Ever used hydrocolloid bandaids? They are the best! Yeah, they’re more expensive, and as usual, Band-Aid brand is by far the best. I’ve used them in the field dozens of times.
Would not use them on puncture wounds and they seal the bacteria in quite nicely. But for surface wounds they’re antibacterial and a bandaid all in one.
I actually have used such bandages before, and they’re fantastic!
Except one thing, they don’t have a good shelf life, the paper wrapper apparently degrades a lot faster ☹️
Not good to store in a first aid kit…
You should include some flexible plastic, like cling film. In case you have to bandage an arterial or jugular wound, you need something that is impermeable to stop the bleeding. In case of jugular wounds, it’s also necessary to stop the heart from sucking air in through the dry end of the severed vein, which could make a bad situation worse.
Interesting, and good advice to be honest.
Question though, how the hell would I pack that in there in any useful way that wouldn’t end up sticking half of everything together and make it half impossible to dump the contents out in an emergency?
Looks like there are mini film options, which I didn’t know either.
https://www.amazon.com/mini-stretch-wrap/s?k=mini+stretch+wrap
Doesn’t have to be cling film. Any flexible, non toxic, non permeable sheet will do. You could cut a square out of bag of chips, and fold it up. Or cut a corner out of those emergency blankets, if you have a spare. They’re impermeable to liquid, and ultra thin and lightweight.
In an absolute emergency pinch, I can only imagine that a simple plastic grocery bag would be better than nothing, we tend to keep some in the rear side door pocket in the vehicle.
If an extreme bleeding emergency happens, I guess I’d probably be using the 2x2 inch absorbent sterile pad with compression, while basically hollering to anyone nearby to call 911 and help me find some duct tape and plastic bag or something in the meantime…
