[Rayzerm]

I know the contents of this post may have been covered before, but I do think it is worthwhile...

If you are considering how to make a first aid kit, or which one of the multitude of models on the market you should buy, can I offer one bit of advice.

Before you are in a position to fully understand what you need in a First Aid Kit, you need to fully understand First Aid.

OK, I'm talking about more than sticking a band-aid / sticking plaster on a graze. I'm talking about how to stabalise and treat serious wounds.

I've been an active member of the Red Cross for 22 years. In that time I've worked (as an upaid volunteer) at many events and have seen a wide range of injuries.

What I learned in that time is this, it is not what kit you have, it is what education you have.

If you do a first aid course, you will be in a much better position to improvise treatments and use what is to hand and available whereever you are.

Consider this. You have a fully stocked first aid kit in your bag. You come across a car crash with 4 injured people. Trust me, unless you are a paramedic or doctor and carry a full trauma bag with you, your kit's contents will last a very very short time period and you will be left improvising. This is when knowledge of treatment fundementals will come in.

So, if you are serious about first aid, please consider doing a basic first aid course. It may save your life, the life of someone you love, or just a stranger in the street who's existance may well depend on what you do or don't do in a 1 min window.

Sorry for the rant - this is something I feel very strongly about.

[Celticwarrior]

Red Cross basic manuals (not the pamphlet in your FAK, the real book) cover breaks, fractures, lacerations, head wounds, trauma, frostbite and heat stroke, and even emergency childbirth procedures. They describe how to make a cravat bandage/sling out of a simple square of cloth, how to perform CPR and artificial respiration, and give good step by step instructions on things like the Heimlich manuever, what to do in case of electrocution/lightning strikes, and how to handle a drowning victim. There are special sections on dealing with infants and small children as well. They are cheap, and available in any college bookstore that offers EMT training, through your local Red Cross office, or in many brick & mortar or online booksellers. It is something everyone should have on their bookshelves, or in their FAK, and have read over thoroughly several times. You never know when YOU might be the only thing standing between someone (maybe someone you LOVE) and a tragic death.

Cheap or sometimes FREE training in basic CPR/AR techniques and Heimlich maneuvers are available as Basic Lifesaving Courses in many local Adult Education Programs and YMCA/YWCA activity centers, or ask at your local Red Cross office or the nearest fire station. It is time well spent.

http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper...iqueItemId=194
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158...cm_rdp_product
http://www.cpr-pro.com/pdf_resources.html
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/fm4_25x11.pdf

Interesting online training guide: http://www.parasolemt.com.au/manual....entialfirstaid


Good call, Rayzerm!

[dtcepl]

I really appreciate some training on how to administrate injections for many different emergency/first aid situation.

Any one can advise???

[Rayzerm]

Originally Posted by dtcepl

I really appreciate some training on how to administrate injections for many different emergency/first aid situation.

Any one can advise???

The situations where you might need to give injections in a first aid situation are very very very limited. First Responders or Paramedic's may sometimes give injections as part of the overall treatment for Cardiac Arrest - but they recieve training for this as part of their overall training.

The situation may sometimes arise when a diabetic needs an insluin injection, or someone with a sever alergic reaction needs some meds. If this is likely to be a day-to-day risk for these people, they may carry single use kits which will have clear instructions for Joe Public.

Under no circumstances should any member of the public consider doing injections unless specifically instructed to do so by a trained medical professional (such as instructions over radio or phone if trained help will not arrive ASAP).

The risk of reaction to meds, or the risk of meds being given incorrectly is just so great that you could end up causing more harm than good.


As a first aider, I will not even give out a paracatemol to someone incase they are alergic etc....

This may seem like over-reaction or being too timid - but it is sensible. Trust me on this please !

[Rayzerm]

Originally Posted by Celticwarrior

Red Cross basic manuals (not the pamphlet in your FAK, the real book) cover breaks, fractures, lacerations, head wounds, trauma, frostbite and heat stroke, and even emergency childbirth procedures. They describe how to make a cravat bandage/sling out of a simple square of cloth, how to perform CPR and artificial respiration, and give good step by step instructions on things like the Heimlich manuever, what to do in case of electrocution/lightning strikes, and how to handle a drowning victim. There are special sections on dealing with infants and small children as well. They are cheap, and available in any college bookstore that offers EMT training, through your local Red Cross office, or in many brick & mortar or online booksellers. It is something everyone should have on their bookshelves, or in their FAK, and have read over thoroughly several times. You never know when YOU might be the only thing standing between someone (maybe someone you LOVE) and a tragic death.

Cheap or sometimes FREE training in basic CPR/AR techniques and Heimlich maneuvers are available as Basic Lifesaving Courses in many local Adult Education Programs and YMCA/YWCA activity centers, or ask at your local Red Cross office or the nearest fire station. It is time well spent.

Red Cross Store
Amazon.com: American Red Cross First Aid: Responding to Emergencies (9781584801016): American National Red Cross: Books
FREE First Aid Review - PDF*Resources Download
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/fm4_25x11.pdf

Interesting online training guide: Essential First Aid


Good call, Rayzerm!

Thanks CW !

Proper Training on CPR / AR is essential. The real thing is very different from TV.

If CPR is done wrong, you can case a lot of damage.

If people only get training on one aspect of First Aid, this is the one they should pick.

Like CW says, a lot of these courses are offered Free and are well well worth spending a few hours on.

Anyone with kids in the house - do one right away no matter what. Better safe than sorry.

[Celticwarrior]

Well, look at Michael Jackson. His idiot doctor was apparently doing CPR on him on a BED! What kind of doctor doesn't know that you can't do chest compressions properly on a soft surface?? Anyone who has ever taken a basic CPR course would have dragged Jackson's body down onto the floor, where there was a hard surface on his back. THEN you start doing chest compressions. Otherwise it was a complete and utter waste of time and energy, even IF he hadn't been massively overdosed, and likely brain dead for an hour or more before they called 911 and "started" rescue attempts.

CPR, Artificial Respiration, and the Heimlich maneuver are the 3 most important things anyone can ever learn in First Aid. You can save a LOT of lives with just those 3 tools, and that's no joke. Everything else, you can improvise, make due, wait for paramedics, drive to the hospital, etc. But those 3 items can mean the difference between a victim living or dying in a matter of a couple of minutes.

[garret]

working in the electrical distribution industry and entering substations on a regular basis we have to be competant in the most up to date CPR techniques and are re trained yearly (along with other first aid stuff)

i have had to use it only once, on an old guy who had a heart attack whilst walking his dog on the beach, the guy survived and was pretty happy i was near him when it happened, the paramedics were happy too, it only took them 7 mins to respond but he would have been beyond saving by that point

[Dick]

Employers here are required by the workers compensation board to have staff take "occupational first aid" every two years...at least in the resource sector.

I've taken it about 10 times, and am really quite tired of it. More than once, yes, but the overkill is killing me. They won't show you how to do a tracheostomy either.

The best course I ever took was put on by the Red Cross 20+ years ago. They ran a lot of scenarios and really made you think about options, hazards, and triage.

[Camdor]

Originally Posted by Dick

Employers here are required by the workers compensation board to have staff take "occupational first aid" every two years...at least in the resource sector.

I've taken it about 10 times, and am really quite tired of it. More than once, yes, but the overkill is killing me. They won't show you how to do a tracheostomy either.

The best course I ever took was put on by the Red Cross 20+ years ago. They ran a lot of scenarios and really made you think about options, hazards, and triage.

LOL

Trachs are not as easy as they look, my friend. I don't know of any course, outside of the field, that teaches them or things like advanced I.V placement.

There are several inherent dangers and risks in doing tracheotomies and can take weeks or months to learn how to do properly.

The Red Cross course you described sounds to me like they knew exactly what a lay person needs and SHOULD know. Weighing options, thinking of next moves and triage are critical in any life saving scenario. Without those skills, you could have all the proper equipment in the world and you would be extremely ineffective and possibly dangerous to your perspective patient.

I personally want to thank the OP for starting this thread because it is something even the most prepared person can take for granted. We can all become complacent and too reliant upon our gear and sometimes forget that we need to keep our SKILLS in as many aspects of scenario based survival as honed as we keep our blades.

We are only as good as our weakest link, ladies and gentlemen and for a great deal of the population, including ourselves, in a life or death scenario, our skill in first aid very well could BE our weakest link. And even if it isn't, learning more and practicing can do nothing but improve ourselves, even if the SHTF scenario does not come anytime soon. You never know when, not IF, but when our so-called "paranoid" skills and knowledge will save a life in such things as motor vehicle accidents, fires, etc.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now. Apologies for hijacking the thread.

[Celticwarrior]

Indeed. Trach's are actually never meant to be done in the field unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I have gone over this in a couple of other threads, because people watch trauma shows on TV and think anyone with a penknife and a straw can do one. In reality, only paramedics with a SURGEON on the radio with them, would be doing an emergency trach/crich. If you have that kind of training, and want to learn how to do one, there are resources on the web to show you the proper technique, but if you aren't 100% about the anatomy, you could permanently paralyze that person, destroy their vocal cords, botch the crich and destroy the windpipe (which would kill them), or nick a major blood vessel and watch them bleed out in seconds. Don't blame any instructor for NOT teaching you this technique. They shouldn't EVER be doing so. This is something that only a highly trained paramedic, under the direct guidance of a surgeon or emergency medical supervising doctor, should attempt, and even then there are risks. They will almost ALWAYS go for a needle, not a cut and tube, because it's the safest way. Big bore needles will give enough airflow to allow bagging until transport to the hospital can occur and a REAL surgeon can make incisions and/or clear the airway properly for intubation. The ONLY time a trach/crich is called for is if the windpipe is so grossly blocked or crushed that removal of the object or mitigation of the trauma is impossible before the victim chokes to death. Unless that is the case, you should always be looking at sweeping the throat for obstructions, doing a Heimlich maneuver, or other methods of clearing the airway. Cutting should be the absolute last idea you have in the field, especially if you are not properly trained for it.