The First Aid Kit

Don't forget 4 to 6 triangular bandages to go with the gauze pads. Google "sealed trauma bandage". Carry one or two and double seal all your stuff in good quality freezer rated zip-locks.

That where I use the cravats.
 
Soap. And bandanas. The grandkids hate it when I go after them with a wet bandana and some soap when they get banged up out in the woods. No infections so far though.
 
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I carry a small bottle of saline along with another small bottle of eye flush. Wash n wipes have a chemical in them that causes a bad reaction for some people. As a last resort flush a wound with clean water and wipe off crap with a piece of the gauze.
I'll take my chances when appropriate, those injured in offroad accidents usually have more to worry about than a skin rash. I've seen enough trauma to not be overly worried about any possible resulting rash from cleaning the exterior parts of a wound with a Wash 'n Wipe. :)
 
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I'll take my chances when appropriate, those injured in offroad accidents usually have more to worry about than a skin rash. I've seen enough trauma to not be overly worried about any possible resulting rash from cleaning the exterior parts of a wound with a Wash 'n Wipe. :)
I am not talking about a rash but what the hell do I know. Use plain water.
 
First Aid and CPR classes - check.
First Aid kit on the rollbar - check.

It is a basic "boo-boo" kit with the addition of basic tools (trauma shears, flashlight, chemlight), meds (pain relief, allergy, etc...). I will be adding tourniquet, soft splint, ace bandages, triangle slings, and a few blood stopping trauma items in case things go bad on the trail. I am trained through my work on all of the above. Better to have it and not need it...
 
I have a very robust kit, with pretty much everything mentioned above. Although I have no training to open an airway, and I have never treated a gun shot wound with anti-clot, I have those in my kit in hopes that someone more skilled than me is present. I figure I can do a lot, and even treat a GSW if necessary, and if someone with more skill is on scene they can fully utilize my kit. I essentially duplicated the kit for both daily driver vehicles, and told my wife if she is ever "on scene" to grab the kit and give it to someone more skilled.
 
Yup, should have one of those, and training to go with it.

Don't go nuts with the first aid kit. Really. Most of the medical problems you'll run into are minor, or beyond your skill set and above your paygrade. Take a good first aid class. Carry the basics like analgesics, bandaids, and such. I always build my own kits because the stuff in the cheapo premade ones are usually crap. And expensive for what you actually get. Build your own for your conditions. Get slivers? Get tweezers. Lots of poise oak in the area? Throw in some poison oak remedy. Gauze squares are useful. Butterfly bandages come in handy.


Also attend a first aid class--A first aid kit is only as good as your training---the knowledge you gain may save a life when on the trail and a long way from help
 
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My IFAK consists of trauma shears, tourniquet, rolled gauze, Ace wrap, Sam splint, cravat, bandaids, mask for cpr, topical antibiotic, Tylenol, epi pen
 
Also attend a first aid class--A first aid kit is only as good as your training---the knowledge you gain may save a life when on the trail and a long way from help
Yup. Started in Boy Scouts through the US Navy and now yearly through my employer. The training and focus has changed a lot over the decades. Remember iodine and snakebite kits? It pays to keep up to date.
 
I have one in every car I own. Lots of gauze, lots of tape, hand sanitizer, tourniquet, quikclot, aspirin. Vacuum seal it and keep in the get home bag. Never know what you'll run into.
 
I’ll repeat something I said earlier in this thread.

Consider taking the NOLS Wilderness First Aid course. I’ve taken it twice now. Hands down, the best first aid class I’ve ever taken.

Phoenix Fire Dept. offers CPR certification. Maybe your local Dept. does as well.
 
Being an EMT as well I can't emphasize enough merely knowing how to use what's in your kit. I have friends that have extensive kits in their car or house but they are just soccer moms and besides know what the band-aids are and how to use them, the rest of their kit is somewhat useless for them. You can always hope someone else near by has more extensive knowledge, but we are rarely that lucky in emergency situations. I took my EMT through NOLS and that trained me on both front country EMT practices and backcountry improvisation. Check out MyMedic.com if you're looking for a pre-made kit that is fairly well rounded. Pricey, but quality.

I've been first on scene a few times and had to bust out windows, cut seat belts, and pull people out of vehicles. So a seatbelt cutter and window punch are both things I typically have on me and have a spare in my med kit.

I don't worry all that much about clean and sterile (in the backcountry) because chances of dying from using using "unclean" items is much less likely than avoiding to treat an injury or wound infections, virus, and other sorts setting in isn't the highest priority. Some of those on here with medical experience might dispute that with me and that's fine.
 
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Being an EMT as well I can't emphasize enough merely knowing how to use what's in your kit. I have friends that have extensive kits in their car or house but they are just soccer moms and besides know what the band-aids are and how to use them, the rest of their kit is somewhat useless for them. You can always hope someone else near by has more extensive knowledge, but we are rarely that lucky in emergency situations. I took my EMT through NOLS and that trained me on both front country EMT practices and backcountry improvisation. Check out MyMedic.com if you're looking for a pre-made kit that is fairly well rounded. Pricey, but quality.

I've been first on scene a few times and had to bust out windows, cut seat belts, and pull people out of vehicles. So a seatbelt cutter and window punch are both things I typically have on me and have a spare in my med kit.

I don't worry all that much about clean and sterile (in the backcountry) because chances of dying from using using "unclean" items is much less likely than avoiding to treat an injury or wound infections, virus, and other sorts setting in isn't the highest priority. Some of those on here with medical experience might dispute that with me and that's fine.

Agreed. Both NOLS classes I took spoke of the difference between “ clean” and “sterile” with clean being the best you can realistically hope to achieve in the back country.

Another interesting thing that kinda pertains to that subject is that an instructor showed (10) 4x4 gauze squares that had been removed from their original envelops and all repacked together in a vacuum seal bag. There was quite a difference in the volume that was taken up by the same amount of supplies.

Granted, this repackaging would pertain more to a backpacking/hiking kit but was still an interesting idea.
 
I have a first aid kit in every vehicle but the jeep.

Okay, I will have on in there too, but I haven't gotten to it yet. After 20 years working in healthcare, I have seen a lot of good come from a good samaritan with proper training and a proper kit.
 
How said Jeepers were a bunch of, insert your own moniker,

There are a bunch of folks with impressive skill sets here. Glad I am here!
 
I keep my kit in an easy to access spot and it never leaves my Jeep, unless I need it of course. Its contents are pretty basic and contain most of what has been mentioned above. My training is pretty basic as well and probably should be updated. The wilderness courses sound interesting. I have Red Cross for Scouting and hockey trainers certifications for sports. I never had a problem with scouts but sports is another matter. In lacrosse the game can't be played without a trainer on the bench. I coach but got my certification to make sure my games always got played. If a team doesn't have a trainer they will ask if the other team's trainer will do double duty. More than once my players have injured opposing players and I had to deal with it.

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I carry an Epi-Pen for myself and my wife, both of us have bee sting allergies, I also carry Benadryl and a few packets of Emergen-C, along with the rest of my first aid gear
 
I have a very basic kit. I should upgrade it. Just had my first aid/cpr renewed about two weeks ago. My last company had a H&S officer, we would do hands on training, 8 hours of class time, it was very thorough. My new company--it was all online. To get certified they had a guy come in for 15 min and we did compressions on the dummy, then he signed our card. I wouldnt mind taking a different class because this way was a joke. All we did for the hands-on was learn how to use the AED, and a quick 2 min compression on a dummy:rolleyes: