Medics – Recommend practical lightweight first aid kit contents?

I have been looking at first aid kits for biking, hiking etc.

I’ve done HSE first aid training on a number of occasions and the standard place of work kits seem contain a lot of stuff for incredibly minor “injuries”, that in my mind don’t really count as “first aid”.

Not looking for extreme wilderness stuff but want something that is actually useful, don’t see the point of some of the stuff that you get pre-packed kits. e.g. sticking plasters that are only good for the tiniest of cuts etc.

So can anyone recommend a basic kit contents, looking at dealing with stuff that may need a visit to casualty or at least dressing properly when back at home?

2/3 triangular bandages, large dressings and some scissors for a start..

Non medic though sorry

Been a lot of debate on this here.

There is only a very small range of injuries where the kit you have will make a difference – either its minor and MTFU or its serious and its game over.

When I carry one I carry a fairly comprehensive kit but most of the time I didn’t bother.

Steristrips, hydrocolloid and film dressings, a bandage, a couple of sorts of tape, alginate dressings, absorbant dressings, various pills – basic painkillers and superstrong ones, immodium, tick remover, saline for flushing eyes out

Shell dressing
Ibuprofen
Traumastem cellulose spray for cuts/grazes etc

Duct Tape and inner tubes cover all the immobilisation/sling uses you’ll ever need.

TJ makes a good point on the tick remover.

A foil blanket for immobilised casualties prior to extraction?

My missus is a vet so put together our
Dressings
Tape
Bandage
Clean Wipes
Gloves
She also had needle and thread (medical kind)
Pain Killers (ibuprofen/paracetamol) though after some other trips to hospital it also included diclophenac & tramadol

I packed the Tramadol for the alps and out there trips if I need to sit and wait for a helicopter etc might aswell not care

Been a lot of debate on this here.

Hasn’t there just TJ 😉

Personally, I carry a foil blanket and that’s it. As Teej says, it’s either minor enough to MTFU and get home or it’s bad enough for a 999 call. If it’s the latter, the foil blanket will help the casualty to kep warm until help arrives.

Thanks for the info guys.

TJ – Not sure if I see the point of the painkillers and immodium? If its that serious that I need pain relief then I would go to A&E and wouldn’t take anything before I got there? And immodium????

winston – thats my kit for out in the wilds / multiday trips – medevac could be a while so I want some serious painkillers If I break a leg – I ain’t waiting until A&E, immodium so you don’t shite yersel while getting out of the hills if you have the galloping trots

TJ – Not sure if I see the point of the painkillers and immodium? If its that serious that I need pain relief then I would go to A&E and wouldn’t take anything before I got there? And immodium????

A mate did his shoulder at Ae and waited 4 hrs before pain relief wouldn’t even give him ice.

I’ll pop the good stuff and tell them when they pick me up

I have dislocated my shoulder a number of times in the past, luckily it has been “fixed” now and I haven’t done it in a while.

I do not know that any over the counter painkillers wouldn’t touch the pain when it is out and in spasm. You would definitely need some “controlled” stuff to be worthwhile.

The kit that lives in my camelbak just for biking is minimal. Plasters, tape, couple of dressings, ampoule of saline for eye wash, a handful of other bits, just a small pack on the basis that i’m rarely more than a couple of hours from help. Multi-day trips and travelling I have a bigger kit.

I think the same as a few people (and TJ’s right, there was a LOT of debate on this), my normal kit is to patch me up ’til i get home or keep me comfortable until help arrives.

A foil blanket for immobilised casualties prior to extraction?

This.

Although, if you’re heading away for a few days, and aren’t likely to be near a pharmacy, it is worth taking some basic stuff for cleaning/dressing minor wounds.

I have a little pill box which I take on multi day bike/hike trips which contains a few of each of these:

Diazepam (10mg) – for sleeping
DHC (30mg) – for pain
Diclofenac – (50mg) – if my dodgy knees start playing up
Immodium – if I’ve been drinking Black Gold in the Clachaig

Also, the DHC and diazepam come in handy if the weather is crap and you just want to sit around smashed all day instead 😉

For me out on my own, I tend to carry.

Foil blanket.
Tick tool
Gloves
Plenty of those little squirty bottles of wound wash.
A decent sized wound dressing or 2.
Gaffer tape (wrapped round pump)
Antihistamine tabs
Tubes/cable ties for slings. Pump will do if you need a splint. Leatherman is in with the bike multitool.

Tampons are supposed to be good for big holes (!) and if I could figure out a neat way to carry clingfilm without unwrapping it off the roll I’d have some of that too (sterile when it’s on the roll).

If I’m guiding, I’ll carry a fair chunk more of everything.

Little things like plasters make all the difference IMO.

You get minor MTFU injuries and major “MEDIVAC” injuries requiring specialist help. But you also get stupid injuries that can ruin a days riding like a blister from the back of your shoe after having to walk further than planned at the start of a long day riding…

I carry a large dressing for severe haemorrhage, sterile water for cleaning eyes out, duct tape for everything from immobilisation to wound closure, codeine for my generalised pains, blister plasters and always a spare energy gel/bar.

Anything more than that is extra weight and un-needed.

(though I did once chuck my first aid kit from a mountaineering trip into my camel back for a trail centre ride and came across a downed rider with a cut chin, opened up the kit and all my cannulas fell out…WALT-tastic!)

GLOVES.

Also army field dressings have more uses for their weight/size than anything else I can think of