As well as my EDC first aid kit, I wanted something a bit more substantial for when on trips further away from help.
My general philosophy behind a First Aid Kit (FAK), is it's there to provide the immediate first aid needed to maintain life until help arrives. I include some items that may be used and then the journey continued on to civilisation (plasters, low adherent dressing (on some wounds)). But in general, if the kit is being opened, I'm coming home, possibly via a Helicopter. The other main design point of my FAK is that it's for me. It's there for me to treat myself. Nearly all my trips are done solo, with the occasional trip done more as multiple solo people in loose formation, rather than as a group.
Unhappy with what is and isn't in Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) FAK's, I decided to put my own together.
I started with an Exped 1L FAK dry bag. I could have used any dry bag I liked, but this one has big friendly FIRST AID markings. It's the lightest first aid dry bag I could find. It's main short coming is that it does't have a belt loop. Lifeventure sell a waterproof FAK that comes in a roll top dry bag with belt loops, but I can't seem to find anyone selling the pouch on it's own. It's a lot to pay not to use the contents.
The pouch as it stands looks like this (click to enlarge):
I stuck a tub of alcohol gel on the outside, tho there is one of these in my loo kit, so I may not carry this at tall times.
So what's in the pouch? (click to enlarge)
The primary contents are a pair [thread=133385]SP Services T4 Trauma dressings[/thread]. These are there to treat most things where there is a lot of blood.
The pack of plasters is there for small cuts, and the standard pack has been augmented by a pack of 5 blister plasters.
The 50mm x 50mm low adherent dressings, along with the micropore are there for treating things that are bigger than need a plaster, but smaller than warrant the big dressings.
The wipes are there for cleaning wounds, the gloves were bought as individual pair packs as that seemed the most logical way of not having them loose in the bag to fall on the ground the moment I open it...
The burn gel is an interesting one, I have mentioned in the past the idea of including burn gel in a FAK, and got the reply "Just use water". There are many burns for which running under the tap for 20 minutes is the right course of action. Thing is, I don't generally have access to enough drinking water to do so properly. Burn gel is also brilliant for treating sunburn.
The biohazard bags are there largely due to habbit, allows me to stick used stuff in them. Also if I need to dress a burn, I can (ab)use an unused one for that.
Finally there is a mini roll of ducttape. If all else fails, ducttape.
Julia
My general philosophy behind a First Aid Kit (FAK), is it's there to provide the immediate first aid needed to maintain life until help arrives. I include some items that may be used and then the journey continued on to civilisation (plasters, low adherent dressing (on some wounds)). But in general, if the kit is being opened, I'm coming home, possibly via a Helicopter. The other main design point of my FAK is that it's for me. It's there for me to treat myself. Nearly all my trips are done solo, with the occasional trip done more as multiple solo people in loose formation, rather than as a group.
Unhappy with what is and isn't in Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) FAK's, I decided to put my own together.
I started with an Exped 1L FAK dry bag. I could have used any dry bag I liked, but this one has big friendly FIRST AID markings. It's the lightest first aid dry bag I could find. It's main short coming is that it does't have a belt loop. Lifeventure sell a waterproof FAK that comes in a roll top dry bag with belt loops, but I can't seem to find anyone selling the pouch on it's own. It's a lot to pay not to use the contents.
The pouch as it stands looks like this (click to enlarge):
I stuck a tub of alcohol gel on the outside, tho there is one of these in my loo kit, so I may not carry this at tall times.
So what's in the pouch? (click to enlarge)
The primary contents are a pair [thread=133385]SP Services T4 Trauma dressings[/thread]. These are there to treat most things where there is a lot of blood.
The pack of plasters is there for small cuts, and the standard pack has been augmented by a pack of 5 blister plasters.
The 50mm x 50mm low adherent dressings, along with the micropore are there for treating things that are bigger than need a plaster, but smaller than warrant the big dressings.
The wipes are there for cleaning wounds, the gloves were bought as individual pair packs as that seemed the most logical way of not having them loose in the bag to fall on the ground the moment I open it...
The burn gel is an interesting one, I have mentioned in the past the idea of including burn gel in a FAK, and got the reply "Just use water". There are many burns for which running under the tap for 20 minutes is the right course of action. Thing is, I don't generally have access to enough drinking water to do so properly. Burn gel is also brilliant for treating sunburn.
The biohazard bags are there largely due to habbit, allows me to stick used stuff in them. Also if I need to dress a burn, I can (ab)use an unused one for that.
Finally there is a mini roll of ducttape. If all else fails, ducttape.
Julia
