View Full Version : 1st Aid kit levels?
Picked up a little 1st Aid kit on sale at the drug store the other day. Mostly I wanted a labeled, sturdy box for some 1st aid stuff in the pickup truck. It is labeled as a "Level 2" kit, "treats a greater variety of injuries". It has the AMA name and logo on the front and back, and says "in collaboration with the AMA".
In truth, anyone carrying a backpack or purse probably has most of what is in this kit, it is basically a few bandaids and a couple of otc pain pills.
Which really makes me wonder, what are the supplies included in the various levels, 1-4, especially a level 1 kit. Anyone know?
Faint
Reasonable Rascal
06-08-03, 13:25
To be honest I have never run across the "Level" designation before. Perhaps a marketing tactic? I honestly cannot say.
RR
made me wonder if there was in fact some "official" 1st aid kit stocking list somewhere. I'm so limited with where the 486 and its old software can go that I can't do much of any searching for answers.
If you're curious it contains the following:
2 (tiny) antibiotic ointment packs
4 extra-strength non-aspirin tablets
2 ibuprofen tablets
2 decongestant tablets
6 alcohol cleansing pads
6 antiseptic cleansing wipes (sting free)
10 3/4" x 3" plastic bandages
1 2" x 4" elbow & knee plastic bandage
10 3/8" x 1 1/2" plastic bandages
2 large butterfly wound closures
1 knuckle fabric bandage
1 large fingertip fabric bandage
1 1st aid guide (not great, but could be worse)
2 vinyl gloves (1 pair)
1 medium safety pin (why???)
1 case
If I was at a scene with absolutely nothing of my own to work with and 2 people ran up, one with this kit and the other with a diaper bag-the diaper bag is MINE. Useful things in those diaper bags....
But I can shove a few more things in this kit and try and find somewhere to shove the kit in the truck. Better than nothing, so I'm not complaining.
Faint
Reasonable Rascal
06-08-03, 20:08
If that's the so-called Level 2 then the Level 1 must be a pair of baby aspirin and a spot band-aid (in case of shaving nicks).
I do know with certainty that IOSHA (Iowa OSHA) only requires a doc's letter of approval for whatever a construction company, for instance, tosses together for a kit on site. Whether it is realistic or not may be another matter.
RR
Learn something new every day.
Faint
Hari Seldon
06-10-03, 00:03
It sounds like these "first aid kits" want to be an all-around options provider, with a little of this & a little of that. There is some handy stuff, as well as some obscure stuff.
I am more comfortable with my homemade kit, which I suppose is most correctly called a "trauma bag" (When I worked on the ambulance, we used to call them "jump bags").
The main function of the kit is to stop bleeding, so I carry nothing smaller than 4X4 gauze, and these I buy in 10-pack packages. You tear a paper lid off of a little plastic tray, and you have 10 sterile 4X4s, all stacked up. Some manufactorers might call these "sponge kits". I also carry a bunch of puffy, rolled gauze ("Kling", "Curlex") min 3" wide. These can be used rolled up like a giant sponge, or they can be used to wrap an injury. I keep several of these in the bag. There are a few 7X5 pads, too. My main goal is to "plug it" & "roll it" with whatever I have, until it stops bleeding.
Finger splints, knee bandages, eye patches, & cravats are nonessential to treating trauma, and they can all be improvised out of 4X4s, tape, & scissors. A cravate can be replaced by adequate curlex.
Tape, trauma shears, stethescope, BP cuff, penlite, CPR mask, orphar airways, & tweezers round out the rest of the kit.
Recently, I have added two 8oz bottles of Poland Spring water, to the kit. These tough little hand grenade sized bottles will withstand total freezing without cracking open -- a good concern for a bag that stays in my truck all year long! To these bottles, I scotch taped 2 benedryl tablets each (in blister packaging). These are for sting / anaphylaxis victims, and can be ignored if just the water is needed for a different purpose.
I should defend myself a bit here-the pickup is a working truck, and it is jammed to the gills already. Not quite as bad in the summer as I can take the insulated coveralls out from behind the seats, but still have the box of tire chains clanking around the cab for muddy situations. The truck always has to hold a large assortment of tools needed to keep it running, assorted bottles and cans of fluids it needs, some parts, at least one pair of uninsulated coveralls for working on said truck.... Then there are all the spare gloves, hats, throwing ropes, heavy ropes, tie-down straps, log chains, wedges, etc. Add 2 or 3 people, water jugs, lunch/snacks, some reading material, maybe a radio and, well, just opening a door gets interesting. That's why I wanted a sturdy little marked box to throw into the mix. I still can't figure out where to put it-at least not anywhere where it will be found and recovered by anyone but me. I'm seriously thinking about making some sort of creation out of duct tape and trying to fasten it to the inside cab roof.
My car is a different story. Gloves are stashed everywhere. I've got a small pair of binoculars in the glove box along with extra flashlights. In the trunk (and this is a miserably small, hard to load car) I've got 2 locking top plastic boxes each a little bigger than a double shoe box. One is packed with bleeding control stuff-gauze, rollers, sanitary napkins, etc. The other is more my medicine cabinent stuff (I wouldn't always be treating "on duty")
OTC meds for pain, allergy, various upper and lower GI upsets, bandaids, antiseptics, tissues, etc. Then I've got a duffle bag that goes when I'm traveling any distance (say over 5 miles) or when I go on a call. It is more comfort kit/first aid kit. It holds more of the stuff in smaller quantities that I've already got in the 2 boxes, plus a handful of change for phone calls, more flashlights, some puzzle magazines, TP, water-including one bottle with the pull top so I can direct the stream-pop, 5 MREs/DintyMoore's, extra cigarettes, $20 for emergencies,
snacks such as jerky and some hard candy, pens and paper, a spare tshirt, some plastic grocery bags for garbage or whatever, etc. I've also got one adult adjustable c-collar that tumbles around in the trunk with everything else. Oh and a 4 roll pack of toilet paper too.
Plus I tend to carry gloves on my person as well as everywhere else (Ok I have a thing about gloves), and anything that has a zipper-except my pants fly so far-has at least one of those little cpr mask pouches hooked to it.
But now THANK YOU Hari, I'll keep a watch for Poland Spring water bottles-that's been a problem for me, my vehicles all sit outside year round so I haven't wanted to keep water in them. Nice to know they'll take freezing. Not that they're overly useful frozen, but they'll thaw.
Faint
yes - commercial first aid kits are basically trash. take a look at a Dr designed first aid kit posted here.
faint - good call on the kotex(sp?) / dinty moor - if it's an expendable quantity make it cheap!
hari - and what happens when you run out of kerlex and 4x4's? If you want to stop bleeding - think OR towels, elastic bandages, triangular bandages and kravets. Cloth diapers work great too! You can wash all of the latter. Save your precious, very expensive and STERILE dressing for placing the min number needed over a freshly debrided wound - that is the only time when you really NEED a sterile dressing! And for a few dressing changes. (well - few other times... 2nd or 3rd degree burns, penetrating injuries, eye injuries, etc...)
one note on using disposable diapers or sanatary napkins - some are purfumed and can cause a histamine reaction. Get the PLAIN kind.
at a really basic level - carry some trauma shears and have the patient donate the bandaging materials. They will be wearing them allready - just cut and re-apply in a more useful fashion...
-t
ps: on the first aid kit Faint listed - remove all the plastic bandages (leave the cloth bandage) and take a look at what's left. It's allmost all meds. If you are after single packs, backpacking stores (and sometimes places like K-Mart's outoor section) sell a "drug module" for $10-15 that has a better variety of drugs and better quantities. basically - you are better off building your own kit.
take a look at the Dr Designed kit - it's online here or on the original site (has pictures!). He is selling some of them at $350 a pop! Much of this is the cost of the bag.
http://www.avweb.com/news/aeromed/181890-1.html
for a sturdy box - go to a mil surplus store. There are options beyond .30 or .50 cal as to size and shape. These are tough and very waterproof - unlike the metal box's you will find most first aid kits have. (no gasket - single, weak hinges vs more sturdy piano hinge and a serious latch that compresses the gasket material and ensured that you could toss one in a body of water, leave it there and come back a week later to find your supplies dry.)
I'll have to look for the drug modules, had never heard of them. All I've seen are the limited number of offerings in quantities far to big for me that are in the EMS supply catalogs.
Any one else have any little tricks for their first aid bags they'd care to share? I'm taking notes!
Faint
AMA kit levels:
Level 1- Home, Travel, Outdoors
Level 2- Home, Auto/RV, Outdoors, Sports, Travel
Level 3- Home, Auto/RV, Outdoors, Sports, Marine
Level 4- Home, Auto/RV, Outdoors, Sports, Marine
http://www.emergencyresources.com/allpurposekit.html
they have a level 4 kit for $27 that doesn't look that bad for a commercal kit. It has 144 pieces, of which 75 are 2 sizes of bandaids and ETOH wipes... - maybe a whole dollars worth of stuff for half the kit count... Whoopty doo! - it's the other stuff in the kit - the onsies and twosies that make this an interesting kit and a possible buy:
CONTENTS - XL 144 pc Level 4 Kit
144 Essential First Aid Items:
(3) Antibiotic Ointment,(1) Burn Relief Pack, (8) Extra Strength non-aspirin tablets, (8) Ibuprofen tablets, (2) Decongestant Tablets, (24) Alcohol Prep Pads, (12) Antiseptic Cleansing Wipe (sting-free), (2) Castile soap towelettes, (1) 4" x 6" Reusable hot/cold Compress, (1) 4" x 5" Instant Cold Compress, (2) Large Butterfly Wound Closure, (1) 6" x 3/4" Finger Splint, (25) 3/4" x 3" Curad Adhesive Bandages, (2) 2" x "4" Curad Elbow & knee Plastic Bandage, (20) 3/8" x 1-1/2" Curad Junior Plastic Bandages, (2) Curad Knuckle Fabric Bandage, (2) Curad Fingertip Fabric Bandage, (2) Sterile Eye Pads, (8) 2" x 2" Gauze Dressing Pads, (4) 4" x 4" Gauze Dressing Pads, (1) 5" x 9" Trauma Pad, (1) 3" x 4.1yd. Conforming gauze roll bandage, (2) 2" x 3" Non-Stick Pads, (1) 96pg. AMA First Aid Guide, (1) Scissors, (1) Tweezers, (2) Exam Quality Vinyl Gloves, (2) 6" Cotton tipped applicators, (1) 1/2" x 10 yd. First Aid Tape, (1) Wall-mountable case w/dividers
I still think you could do better building your own.
as to contents - consider the lowly single serving pack of honey. You can pick these up at resteraunts, coffee shops, etc. for free - they are sometimes found sitting out with the ketchup, etc. packs on the condament rack. Pocket a few next time you see them. What are they good for?
makes a great emergency ration. (but RATION them strictly - if you don't, they won't last).
diabeties - hypo-glyc. tx.
makes a great antibiotic for external wounds
pushing it - the plastic wrapper could be used to seal a sucking chest wound, in a pinch - but you really want something larger. OTOH - comes w/ own adhesive and would probably hold a seal w/ min help from the tape.
honey could be used as an adhesive to help bandages stick to aquward body parts or in wet conditions...
in a survival situation - could be used as bait to get lunch to come to you...
as a possible seal between tubing/cork/container in improvised suction, etc gear, for an airtight fit.
disolved in tea as an energy and moral boost for liquid diets - like during flu or nursing someone back to solid food after they have been vomiting.
as sweetener for coffee, granola or on flat bread. (it makes fire ring baked flatbread very good!)
there are probably more uses - but those are the ones that come to mind right now.
-t
another use: assuming prolonged isolation - bottle + water + honey + condom + tape. ideally you should have some yeast too - but it will probably do it's magic without it. disolve honey in water (heat it), poor into bottle, (opt: add yeast), place balloon or profalactic over mouth - seal w/ tape. The "balloon" will inflate and about 1-2 weeks later deflate. At which time you have ETOH. You can optionally distill this for a higher concentration. (you may also get viniger instead, esp if you didn't clean your bottle first!).
can anyone help me w/ a natural source of yeast? - I seem to remember a plant source, but it's alluding me....
I don't eat out much, so I've never seen the little packets, but I'll sure watch for them. Every now and then I do see half size "bears" of honey. Think I'll buy one next time I find it, wouldn't be quite as handy as the packets but still workable.
Other sucking chest wound ideas-the package from gauze pads, and I carry plastic grocery bags and have a lot of my items packaged in ziptop freezer bags. And I suspect that an "upside down" sanitary napkin would work since they're plastic lined.
As for wild yeast, I've read of wild grapes having a lot of it-the white "blush" on the grapes.
Faint
Hari Seldon
06-11-03, 13:51
Originally posted by Faint
I'll keep a watch for Poland Spring water bottles-that's been a problem for me, my vehicles all sit outside year round so I haven't wanted to keep water in them. Nice to know they'll take freezing. Not that they're overly useful frozen, but they'll thaw.
Faint
True, Faint.
Though troublesome, I'll bet that the little bottles can be thawed out under an armpit (brrrrr!) in an emergency. Also, the bottle can be slit open with a knife / P38, and the frozen pop can be licked & chewed. The small size of the water bottle makes these uneasy winter solutions more tolerable than if dealing with a big water source.
Tangent:
<<hari - and what happens when you run out of kerlex and 4x4's?>>
My point was that control of bleeding prdominates my carry-kits supplies, as compared to being able to provide aspirin, a knee bandage, antacid, fingertip fabric bandages...etc....)
Simplicity & repetative resources seem to work best for me. What I mean is if I know that I have 8 rolls of kurlex in my bag, then I can "wastefully" apply them to my hearts content. I might apply the first one unrolled, directly over a wound. I might then take a second roll & use it to bind the first one in place. This is less confsuing than if I had 1 or 2 rolls kurlex, 6 rolls of 3 types of tape, hypoallergetic bandages, oval eye patches, a dental kit, etc.. My bag is a bottomless well of kurlex! No need to conserve, no need to think about which of a dozen products is the best choice.
At vehicle accidents, we are in the habit of grabbing individually wrapped 4X4s a handful at a time, we then tear off all the package corners at once. With a proper hand grip, you can then pull out all of the gauzes, & leave the wrappers behind. This can be done quite rapidly, and with the huge ammount of 4X4s on the rig, we never run out! This means that we don't need to think! If we see blood, we automatically grab a handful of 4X4s & start opening. Of course, we WILL use trauma dressings & other materials in more severe situations.
If instead, we carried a few 2X2, 4X4, this bandage, that bandage, knee pad, kravat,,, then I could see a delay happening as a person debates which product to use. At most vehicle accidents I attend, the accident scene is always littered with kurlex & 4X4 wrappers.... In light of this, I choose to carry these items, predominantly.
My trauma bag is for treating major boo-boos. It would not serve too well for headaches, scrapes & other such noncritical situations. To me, sacrificing noncritical gear so I can carry more critical stuff is a proper tradeoff.
just not all quite on the same page. And we're all trying to do the same job-save lives-but looking at it a bit differently. I need blood stopping items in case I come across an accident, or we have one cutting. I also need the comfort kit side of things to help me keep myself and those around me happy-it might be because my car is broken down on the side of the road and help is hours away still, or it might be a couple of us spending the night watching a smouldering ruin for flare-ups.
Calls don't come when it is convient and Mother Nature calls whenever she feels like it, hence the toilet paper. A minor scrape that normally would be ignored can seriously hamper someone's working ability, hence the bandaids. Don't always have a good meal in the belly before a call, hence the food. With my kits I'm trying to cover as many bases as I can-breakdowns, deteours, calls at all hours, hours of fire watch, and so forth. It works for me although I can never afford enough or carry enough to make me feel fully prepared. And I've used the various components of my kit-the time I was one of a handful of people caught in a nasty little motel during a blizzard, there was not so much as a candy machine in the place. My little food and candy stock didn't feed us well, but it was something until we could finally battle our way out late the next afternoon. And on a fire watch one night, my partner cut his hand. I was able to clean it up and get it covered well enough that he could stay on duty with me. I've used the trauma supplies at accidents I've come upon, the puzzle books while waiting for the truck and trailer to come for my car. Never have enough, but better by far than nothing.
Most of what I've assembled is cheap-very little of the gauze and such like is sterile because it costs more. Much of it comes from the local dollar store. The rest from the local drug store and grocery store. The sanitary napkins were $1 a box in damaged boxes. The toilet paper was a coupon buy for 49 cents. The 5x7 trauma pads were bought one at a time as I could afford them. The c-collar was given to me this spring-the only reason I have such a high ticket item. The Dinty Moore meals were bought on sale for $1.50 each.
I wish my squad would let us join in on squad orders. I think it would help the squad and the individuals, we'd be able in some cases to get quantity discounts and even free shipping. But the rest of the members don't see the point in having personal drop kits so won't let me order with the squad. Oh well. I just wish they'd replace my stuff when it gets used. I can dream.
So we're all in the end going to make a lot of choices in what we do and do not carry, it is based on past experiences and future projections. Overall I guess I've been lucky and have needed the comfort kit items more than the trauma items.
Faint
Faint,
For minor wounds, esp abrasions, I understand (but have no first hand experience) that common household pepper is an effective anticoagulant. Do not try it on large wounds with major bleeding. (Oozing like road rash – pepper is great! Spurting or major flow – stop wasting your time and do something effective!)
Band-aids are generally worthless. There are exceptions where they act like a butterfly bandage, but you can get the same effect w/ tape. If you want to carry bandages, carry the cartoon type – as distracters for kids and parents.
Sterile items are a waste of money in most cases. Clean is fine. There have been scientific studies. For example, one study found that irrigating with tap water and irrigating w/ sterile water produced exactly the same effects in debridement… I should note that if you are doing eye irrigation, sterile is required! And at the correct salinity. Eyes get infected really easily – ie: the rule, eye drops can be used as ear drops, but ear drops can NOT be used as eye drops! The only time you want to put a “sterile” dressing on a wound (unless for legal prophylactic purposes - and ONE layer covers you! - the one next to the wound) is when that wound has been surgically cleaned. A wound, by definition, is contaminated, and all you will accomplish is to contaminate your very expensive, sterile dressing!
Good for you on your frugality!
As to comfort items, don’t use them all on your squad, but share with your patient, to the extent you can. If you are private, it will get repeat business. If public, good PR (and unfortunately repeat business over BS calls…) But hay – leave a good community image and put up with all but the chronic malingerers….
Hari – OK, that’s fine, so long as you never get a patient that presents themselves without your being in the presence of a fully stocked ambulance. So long as society cruises along and there is no interruption in the supply of those very expensive 4x4’s… And if not? You are developing bad habits, and would be foolish not to stock for the long term, no chance of re-supply – EVER! Scenario…
btw: RR sells "clean" 4x4's in bulk packs - a lot easier than building your skill at "shelling" sterile 4x4's and a lot cheaper!.
-t
Reasonable Rascal
06-12-03, 00:54
Originally posted by tangent
Hari – OK, that’s fine, so long as you never get a patient that presents themselves without your being in the presence of a fully stocked ambulance. So long as society cruises along and there is no interruption in the supply of those very expensive 4x4’s… And if not? You are developing bad habits, and would be foolish not to stock for the long term, no chance of re-supply – EVER! Scenario…
Then to this *is* the EMS forum, and the practices discussed here differ from those discussed in other areas. What I do as a Paramedic vs. what I would do in a remote or disaster situation are horses of differing breeds. What is acceptable in one situation won't necessarily work in another.
RR
Hari Seldon
06-12-03, 17:02
Faint:
You are correct: my priorities are a bit different than yours. My concerns are being able to render effective aid at a sudden trajedy... like a vehicle accident that I come upon. YOUR needs to provide for a wider variety of situations is completely valid, and I recognize the benefit of having preps like yours available. I merely wanted to add what my experiences & preferences were to this thread.
Tangent:
What RR said; as well as I just wanted to suggest that a few choice products used repetitively, and obtained in bulk, might be a more effective first aid tactic, than owning a small sample of every specialty item sold. But as I stated to Faint; I principally concern myself with treating trauma, at the expense of providing for less critical emergencies.
BTW, your suggestions are well taken. I definately recognize the importance of being able to adapt & improvize. I know that I am a "newbie" here, but I have dabbled in self-reliance & survivalism, in the past....:-D (wink, wink!) Your concerns are well-heeded.
Looks like everyone's going to play nice again.
Certainly I'd treat the "same" injury differently depending on the situation-roadside with sirens in the distance, a remote camping trip, post-SHTF. Just as I'd leave a victim in a wrecked car until more help arrived-unless the car was on fire.
I'd never heard about the pepper, next time I bark my knuckles I'll see if I can screw up the courage to try it.
A related use of pepper is this old toothache remedy-"Put a small wad of cotton on a toothpick, wet the cotton and roll in pepper. Insert the cotton wad in the tooth cavity paking [sic] down well with a toothpick." I'm signed up for the oozing wound experiment, somebody else can try this one.
(Oozing like road rash – pepper is great! Spurting or major flow – stop wasting your time and do something effective!) For me, that would be FAINT. However, I seem to be able to maintain pressure even at a reduced level of consciousness.
I find bandaids to be useful, actually. Say someone's fighting with a hose connection and barks their knuckles. When the gloves go back on, there's a fair amount of pain. Not life threatening, but needless discomfort. On go the bandaids. Occasionally someone will take a little spark to the face, sweat running into it makes it a bit, um, annoying. Nothing major trauma-wise but a little annoyance control can be helpful. They're also great for taping notes to doors. And covering blisters on feet before they get too big-had to send a guy back once, his feet were causing him so much pain he really couldn't function. (He would have continued working if say we'd been trying to get people out of a burning house, but this wasn't that bad.)
Generally I don't worry about sterility, I'm not the final fixer, and that's THEIR problem. However, I can envision scenarios where I might well be the final fixer, or it might take quite a while to get to a final fixer. For those events I do need to get some sterile supplies.
I can't/don't use my supplies on patients, except when I'm first on scene. And that's things like gauze-no meds of any kind. We are only allowed to give glucose, and just recently aspirin to someone suspected of having a heart attack.
And yes, I do know RR sells 4x4's and a lot of other stuff. I printed out his catalog and take it and a calculator to bed with me every night. From MY point of view, the totals I get are *NOT* pretty, but RR would probably be thrilled!
Faint
Yogurt cups. Put a stack of them in your bag and use for drinking cups, they'll crease a bit so you can direct a water stream, in a pinch they could carry specimens or newly-detached body parts. Also the smaller plastic tubs that you'd find something like swiss almond cheese spread in work well.
Granted the flange on the opening makes them a bit hard to drink from, but they hold up well in a kit and the lids can be tossed in for a few of them for holding purposes.
Small paper or waxed paper Dixie cups don't take well to crushing and are almost impossible to use afterwards. The larger red, blue or clear plastic cups that are (so I hear, ahem) at keggers. Crease one of them and it will almost surely break.
Faint
Reasonable Rascal
06-12-03, 22:26
Originally posted by Faint
And yes, I do know RR sells 4x4's and a lot of other stuff. I printed out his catalog and take it and a calculator to bed with me every night. From MY point of view, the totals I get are *NOT* pretty, but RR would probably be thrilled!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :D
Special this week only: sort and inventory the products and put them all on a spreadsheet program for me (then teach me how to use a spreadsheet!) and I'll buy lunch. Sort and clean the rest of the basement and I'll throw in supper as well - at a buffet even. :p
RR
If I knew enough about spreadsheets to even know if I have one on my computer I'd take you up on your offer!
Maybe you should declare Board Inventory Week for the board members. Those of us who need to sort and inventory could do so and those who are super-organized could spend the week gloating.
Faint
About a year ago, I did have the privilege to see Rascall's cellar. I assure you, he is well stocked with supplies, and quite an assortment too.
I would like to spend a week there -- with him nearby -- so I could real all the labels, and learn more about how all the various devices and things work.
I've ordered from MTI, more than once. I am very pleased with his prompt shipment, and with the prices and quality of his supplies. He has the "real" stuff, not just first aid kits with two bandaids and a piece of tape.
Christopher Young
(satisfied customer)
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