I think you’ll agree with me when i say….
Making your first, First Aid Kit can be pretty confusing. Because at first you don’t really know what to add and what to not.
So In this article I’m going to list all the important items that’ll make into your first DIY First Aid Kit.
Note: I’m just a survival & prepping expert. I’m not a doctor. All the information in this post are my personal opinion.
DIY FIRST AID KIT
Page Contents
1. Tourniquet
The core content of my First Aid kit is always going to start out with the tourniquet. Because most of the time when you encounter an accident. You will see blood and you should know how to stop it. Even if it’s just for first aid treatment. Tourniquets are very useful in stopping blood flow. So having a government approved tourniquet in you first aid kit is very helpful.
2. Z-fold gauze
The second thing I’d make sure I have in every kit is some z-fold gauze. Gauze that can be used to pack a junctional hemorrhage. It can be used as a pressure bandage and blood absorbent. Whatever it might be but their primary use is to pack wounds.
3. Pressure bandage
All right, the third must-have item in this kit that kind of goes along with your wound packing supplies are going to be some kind of pressure bandage. These will be used to control bleeding that might not be life-threatening but needs to be controlled relatively soon.
4. Chest seals
All right the fourth thing I would have in my core kit is going to be chest seals. Once again there’s a lot of brands of these it’s not as important to pick the right brand with chest seals as it is with tourniquets. But make sure to get a good one. I would always recommend you have at least two chest seals for an entry wound and an exit wound on the chest.
5. NPA (Nasopharyngeal airways)
Then the other thing I would make sure you have is a NPA. You don’t necessarily need this. But I would always put them in there; they’re not hard to learn. It’s a good way to clear an airway. Most of the time people are not comfortable inserting it. So that’s why I was kind of hesitating to put it in this list.
6. CPR mask
Basically CPR Mask is going to be a barrier that you can put over a patient’s mouth and that will allow you to give them rescue breaths during CPR. While they’re in respiratory or cardiac arrest. So if they’re not breathing but they do have a pulse, what I tell a lot of people is that doing rescue breaths during CPR isn’t really something that’s taught a whole lot anymore. At least for bystanders it’s far better just to push on the chest at a rate of at least 100 compressions a minute. And that’s going to give them almost as good of an outcome as if you were giving rescue breaths at 30.
7. Gloves(Nitrile, Latex & synthetic)
Gloves can help you from not getting blood on your hands. And potentially contaminating yourself or others.
8. SAM splint
This is usually what I’ll use for bone or dislocation injury. It’s just a really compact foldable splint that can be used on pretty much any extremity. You can pretty much handle or stabilize a broken bone injury situation with this.
9. Trauma Dressing (burn dressing)
It is a sort of huge absorbent pad it can be placed on you know an evisceration or burns something like that so more of a massive injury. For a burn dressing you want something that’s not going to leave fibers in that burn that’s not going to you know stick as they try to peel it off causing more tissue damage. And I believe this is one that will accomplish that as well this also be good for your abdominal wounds. You know you can put this over the abdomen keep organisms from getting in and just kind of protect it.
10. Saline Flush
I would have saline flush of some sort. It can be sterile water, it can be saline just something for wound cleaning.
11. Eye shield
I’ll carry an eye shield generally you want to carry – you know the shield will go over their eye if they are injured. It will keep them from looking around will reduce some pain and some panic associated with that.
12. Triangular bandages
I would carry two triangular bandages. These are very multi-use and they’ll be used to do a sling in a swath. If you have to splint somebody’s arm they can be used as dressings pressure. They’ve got a lot of uses so I’d carry at least two of these.
13. Tape
The tape has a lot of different purposes, you know, get something that’s pretty thick. And easy to tear with your hand not something that you need to cut with scissors. This will be very useful for you. Whether that’s securing a dressing or any other use.
14. Trauma shears
I’d carry a pair of trauma shears it’ll just let you cut off clothing. You know if it’s a Pedic injury especially they’re not gonna want to pull their limbs out of that you know. Trauma shears will reduce pain; they’ll be able to expose injury sites without aggravating a patient too much so I’d recommend getting a pair of these.
15. Band-aids
Make sure you have some band-aids you know just get some various sizes and shapes. You know something you’re going to use probably a lot so I’m not too concerned what you get just get something that’ll work for you.
16. Tampons
So I’d also recommend getting some tampons you know for the unexpected period at your house or you know a severe nosebleed works pretty well. Do not use tampons to pack bullet holes; that’s a very common misconception. Just take my word on that don’t use tampons to pack wounds.
17. Tweezers
The other thing I recommend getting is tweezers. They are really helpful and don’t take much space.
Medications
18. Tylenol & ibuprofen
Tylenol is you know it’s a painkiller it’s a good thing to have on hand for your headaches your bumps bruises things like that. I would also make sure you have ibuprofen.
Tylenol can be used interchangeably so if you have somebody that’s you know really sick. You can take some ibuprofen, wait two hours, take some Tylenol and then their doses are gonna overlap.
19. Aspirin
I would consider getting some aspirin. One can be used as a painkiller but two if you have somebody experiencing chest pain you know cardiac symptoms like that you can give them 325 milligrams of aspirin. Have them chew it up and that’s going to help them down the road. Common misconception with aspirin is that it’s a blood thinner it’s actually not. It’s an antiplatelet and doesn’t actually thin the blood.
20. Diphenhydramine
I would also consider carrying some diphenhydramine. So this is your benadryl it’ll be good for your minor contact dermatitis so things like poison ivy rashes things of that nature and that’s also good for allergies.
FEW MORE ITEMS TO CARRY IN YOU FIRST AID KIT
- Thermometer
- Hand warmer
- Sanitizer
- Anti-Diarrhea Pills
- Wound cleaning cloth and liquid
- Antiseptic
- Burn aid sachet
- Foldable survival blanket