Bug-out-bag: Medical items?

[Nick1911]

What kind of medical items do you keep in a 3-day "bug-out-bag"?

It seems that bandages of various sizes and types would be good, probably some tweezers and medical tape, bandaids and nitrile gloves, and something to combat infection.  In a survival situation, I think infection would be pretty high on the list of things that could kill you.  Neosporin? Bactine?  Something stronger?  What other medical related items are prudent?

Thanks!

[Manedwolf]

Quik-clot if you know how to use it, also keep in mind that it heats up in use.

Aspirin, electrolyte tablets, peroxide, iodine, scrub soap, tylenol, diphenhydramine, antibiotic ointment, compression bandages, instant-splint, eye bandages and sterile gel for eye injuries, a CPR barrier if you know CPR, tick puller, burn treatment (waterjel and waterjel bandages), aloe and sunburn gel, snakebite kit, and all sorts and types of gauze, and better, telfa pads...they don't stick. Oh, yeah, and the maximum strength "toothache liquid", which is actually a strong anesthetic that can be used topically as well if you need to. I have lidocaine ampoules, but I doubt you can get hold of those. Broad-spectrum antibiotic if you can get USP antibiotics somewhere, throw them out if they expire. And, of course, tablets for intestinal distress.

I got one of those Czech med bags for the big pile of gauze bandages and all in it.

Also, be aware of the ingredients of some things. I saw some burn gel that contained tea tree oil, which is melaleuca, something some people are extremely allergic to.

[Azrael256]

Quik-clot if you know how to use it, also keep in mind that it heats up in use.

For reference: If you're posting here asking about a first aid kit, you don't know how to use Quik-clot.

[MicroBalrog]

Quik-clot if you know how to use it, also keep in mind that it heats up in use.

For reference: If you're posting here asking about a first aid kit, you don't know how to use Quik-clot.

The proper action is to learn.

Your mental bug-out-bag is more important than the physical one, IMO.

[Manedwolf]

Quik-clot if you know how to use it, also keep in mind that it heats up in use.

For reference: If you're posting here asking about a first aid kit, you don't know how to use Quik-clot.

Well, there's free training materials for it. You just don't want to be trying to figure out how to use it when someone is bleeding all over the place and do it wrong, possibly causing them further injury, or using it on the wrong sort of wound. It can, however, save someone's life when used on something like a gunshot wound through the leg.

Protip: You can get antibiotics through some veterinary suppliers, especially penicillin and doxycycline hyclate, but ONLY use them if they're labeled "USP", which means they can be used medically on humans, they're tested in purity. Stuff like "fish-pen"...no, you don't want to put that in your mouth.

One more thing to add, foil packets of Trifectant powder. Each packet makes a few gallons. It will kill ANYTHING on surfaces if you want to sterilize a room or kill biological contaminants. Just don't get it on your skin or near food. It's harsh, but very, very effective. Get it at feed stores that stock farm veterinary stuff, or things for pet breeders.

[Nick1911]

Quik-clot if you know how to use it, also keep in mind that it heats up in use.

For reference: If you're posting here asking about a first aid kit, you don't know how to use Quik-clot.

Well, there's free training materials for it. You just don't want to be trying to figure out how to use it when someone is bleeding all over the place and do it wrong, possibly causing them further injury, or using it on the wrong sort of wound. It can, however, save someone's life when used on something like a gunshot wound through the leg.

Interesting.  I'll have to look into that and see what it does, how it works, and how to use it.  From the wikipedia article, it sounds pretty useful.

Protip: You can get antibiotics through some veterinary suppliers, especially penicillin and doxycycline hyclate, but ONLY use them if they're labeled "USP", which means they can be used medically on humans, they're tested in purity. Stuff like "fish-pen"...no, you don't want to put that in your mouth.

Also very interesting.   Good list Manedwolf - thanks!

[Balog]

Maned has a good list. I might suggest acetaminophen [sp?] instead of or in addition to aspirin. A blood thinner may be sub-optimal in survival situations.

One tip from the paramedic who taught the abbreviated emt course I took pre-Iraq; tampons make great wound dressings for gunshot and other deep puncture type wounds.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Small bottle of antibacterial dish soap.  Not a first aid item in the truest sense, but it'll definitely help keep you healthy.

[Polishrifleman]

Get a big tube of super glue too.  If you have a doctor buddy get a few of the capsule form type.

[French G.]

Every kit needs Imodium.    Lots of Ace bandages and gauze.

[lupinus]

For three days a basic first aid/trauma kit is all you need.  They will cover everything someone short of an EMT or nurse can really use with good effect, and will cover most situations fine.

http://www.buyemp.com/product/11229895.html
I'm one of the first responders at my work and we get a lot of people hurt with a pretty wide variety of problems, from illness to sever bleeding to unconscious and unresponsive.  It's a good kit that covers most everything and the bag is pretty handy with room to modify your kit.  If you are talking bug out you will want to add some pain creams, OTC pain meds both aspirin and non-aspirin, benadryl, sunblock wouldn't hurt, supply of any perscription meds.

If just for a first aid kit the kit as is works fine.  Mostly we have just added different sizes or subbed out wipes for bottles/tubes.

And check your local red cross or rescue squad.  First aid training will do you a lot more good then a medical bag and no knowledge how to effectively use it.  A basic first aid and CPR course will do you wonders.

[mgdavis]

IIRC, Quik-clot requires surgical removal. It's one of those things that you don't want to use unless it's literally life or death. Definitely not something to use on anything short of arterial or very serious veinous bleeding.

If you're military, you may have see the pig video. Quik-clot is awesome when used correctly.

[PTK]

Celox > QuikClot.

No heat to speak of, easy to use. Expensive, though.

[RevDisk]

Celox.  Which works better than QuikClot.
Some bandages, at least one H handle type that can be self applied with one hand.  Get a nice mix.
Some alcohol wipes.
Small bottle of contact lense solution (sterile, can be used to irrigate)
EMS shears
Whatever pills you think you'll need


If you can find one, just buy a IFAK.

[roo_ster]

If you have kiddos, anti-diarrhea meds are a must.  They can die right quick from dehydration caused by the runs.

[Nick1911]

Celox.

Noted; I'll look into it

IIRC, Quik-clot requires surgical removal. It's one of those things that you don't want to use unless it's literally life or death. Definitely not something to use on anything short of arterial or very serious veinous bleeding.

So it's a "Holy hell; bright red blood is spurting out a recently incurred open wound - use Quik-clot before I pass out and bleed out" kind of thing.  IOW; a last resort.  Don't use quik-clot on something that I could use a bandage on.

Small bottle of contact lense solution (sterile, can be used to irrigate)

Good idea; wouldn't have considered that.

No heat to speak of, easy to use. Expensive, though.

Worth it though, provided it has a long shelf-life.  Celox use isn't exactly "Plan A"... 

For three days a basic first aid/trauma kit is all you need.  They will cover everything someone short of an EMT or nurse can really use with good effect, and will cover most situations fine.

http://www.buyemp.com/product/11229895.html

Cool; thanks for the suggestion!

First aid training will do you a lot more good then a medical bag and no knowledge how to effectively use it.

Fantastic idea.  I would like to take such a course in the future.  At present I still faint when discussing the topic in detail. (Vasovagal syncope)  However I've done a very good job desensitizing myself over the past year by reading various graphically detailed texts (Army Field manuals have been useful in this regard - graphic language, but not pictures).  Perhaps in another year or two I will be able to view the situation from a purely clinical standpoint - and be free from passing out while discussing it.

Get a big tube of super glue too.

To what end?  Gluing a clean cut back together by closing the cut and applying glue over top of the skin?  Is it safe to use CA for that?

If you have kiddos, anti-diarrhea meds are a must.  They can die right quick from dehydration caused by the runs.

No kids; but not a bad point in general.  While less life threatening, an adult can lose a lot of water from diarrhea as well, I believe.

[PTK]

http://www.buyemp.com/product/11229674.html

That's where I get my Celox. 

[Balog]

So it's a "Holy hell; bright red blood is spurting out a recently incurred open wound - use Quik-clot before I pass out and bleed out" kind of thing.  IOW; a last resort.  Don't use quik-clot on something that I could use a bandage on.

In our training we were told to use it only after a tourniquet had failed.

[mgdavis]

The pig video. Not for the squeamish.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/test-of-quikclot-hemostasis-agent-on-a-live-pig/2475424794

[mgdavis]

Another quik-clot video, for a version that is contained in a bag instead of loose.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/rvops-quikclot/3566682811

[Azrael256]

One tip from the paramedic who taught the abbreviated emt course I took pre-Iraq; tampons make great wound dressings for gunshot and other deep puncture type wounds.

That is unwise.  I don't know just where this thing came from, but a menstrual tampon is *NOT* an effective dressing for a GSW.  All of the "plugged-the-GSW-with-a-tampon" stories are purely anecdotal, and are not supported by medical research.  They all assume that such a device performs in some fashion that is somehow superior to a standard dressing, when no such clinical evidence exists. 

If you happened to have a GSW and no other way to close the wound, it would be better than nothing.  If we're talking about your first-aid kit, you should have plenty of conventional dressings, so toss the tampon to make room for something useful, like an epi-pen.

Small bottle of contact lense solution (sterile, can be used to irrigate)

I would go ahead and spring for the $2 bottle of eye/skin rinse.  Contact lens saline is obviously better than muddy water if you've got nothing else, but I wouldn't try to "rough it" when putting together medical supplies.

As a final thought to this...

"Improvised" means "something I came up with when I didn't have access to the right tools for the job."  It's a really, really good idea to know how to improvise, but planning to improvise means planning to not have what you really need.

And I second Lupinus.  Keeping an injured person alive is more about knowing what to do about what's happening and much less about having all the nifty stuff.  You (and I) are *nowhere near* qualified to actually treat someone for anything worse than chicken pox, and I know I certainly don't carry around a crash cart, but knowing when to start chest compressions and when not to move a car wreck victim is a lifesaving thing.

And one last thing...
1. Blood goes 'round and 'round.
2. Oxygen is good!
3. We must make pee.

Keep those three going, and he'll survive until the real help arrives.

[BridgeRunner]

Steri-strips are pretty awesome, and in many situations I'd prefer them over glue.

[Balog]

Azrael: I have no idea if it was good advice or not. Just what they told me in class.

[PTK]

mgdavis


Dang. That ISN'T for the squeamish. I don't think I should've watched it through, but I do like to know what medic supplies can do.

[vaskidmark]

All of the suggestions above are great.  Training is better than a bag full of stuff you don't know how to use, and it is hard to carry a complete drugstore in a 3-day bag with all your other 3-day bag stuff.

Consider one more addition to your minimalist list of supplies, if you are not really good at improvising - an Asherman Chest Seal

http://www.firstrespondersupplies.com/acs.htm 

http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/OperationalMedicine/DATA/operationalmed/MOLLEBag/ChestSeal.htm

Sucking chest wounds are not commonly encountered outside of gunfights, auto accidents, falls, tripping over coffee tables or rollerskates, or bar fights involving the use of broken bottles.  If you encounter one you need to deal with it ASAP.  It can be improvised by using the cellophane from a cigarette pack, but the reduction in the number of smokers makes that less of an option.  You can use your zip-lock baggie from your 3-day bag (What?  You don't have a few in there?  ) but that reduces your ability to use it for other things like carrying water.

Those of you that have old whoopie cushions around the house can cut them to make an effective chest seal, but you lose your entertainment factor.

stay safe.

skidmark