Hello, welcome to the site. Like yourself I am also in the public services sector. And also, my missus knows im on this site but she doesn't know what prepping is or can be bothered to research it!
(I will tell her eventually..)
As you've suggested it would you mind explaining what essentials in your opinion should be in a first aid kit (in a worst-case, no hospital or doctors facilities available scenario).[/quote]
Hi
It is just that really, a matter of opinion.
The kit should reflect the knowledge. It is very important to know your limits and the training you have in my opinion. Glam and glitzy first aid courses are just that and provide basic knowledge to make a difference until help arrives. In the case of no healthcare system that help will not arrive.
Break it down into two kits. The everyday kit and the major 'its gone bad kit'.
For the everyday kit basic drugs like paracetamol, ibuprofen, co-codamol 8/500mg and even diclofenac can be bought over the counter and used in the right way provide very good pain relief. Loperamide and dioralyte or its equivalent for diarrhoea. Cold and flu capsules with decongestants. All can be bought from supermarkets as non branded products that work iust as well but at a quarter of the price. Add in some antiseptic creams, such as sudocrem or a cheaper supermarket brand and some surgical spirit. All this for under £10 and you have drugs to treat most common ailments that will arise.
A small first aid kit consisting of a few small dressings, swabs and plasters. Most small wounds need to be cleaned out and kept covered for a few days to allow healing to start. Triangular bandages are invaluable and have a thousand uses so 5 of them is an ideal amount.
Now look at a major kit to use in conjunction with the minor kit.
Major killers that can be corrected and have a good chance of survival. Big bleeds such as amputation of a digit or large wounds from chainsaws for example. Initial kit needed is large trauma dressings and plenty or pressure. Dressing tightvaround the wound and apply lots of pressure to the wound. In this case two large trauma dressings and a cat tourniquet would be sufficient for most wounds. The long term survival comes from your everyday kit in the form of pain relief and antiseptic wound care. Lower the pain felt from the wound quickly and the stress on the cardiovascular system. Reduce pain will reduce blood pressure and heart rate and allow clots to form.
Unrealistic in this kit would be face shields for cpr. Lets be honest if you are performing cpr their heart is not beating and they are dead. You will not restart their heart with cpr and in the unlikely event you do the intensive care and knowledge required will not be provided. Be realistic about what can be treated and cardiac arrest is not one of them.
People say to keep aspirin for heart attacks. Aspirin buys time to get the patients to definitive care to reperfuse the heart. Heart attacks present in all different ways and assesing the likelihood of heart attack comes with experience and diagnostic tools you will not have. If the person is lucky enough they will survive a heart attack without definitive treatment usually at the expense of the conduction system of the heart as muscle dies off. They may experience symptoms of the heart attack afterwoods but lets be honest if they are having a heart attack they are not a young fit person who has something to give in a SHTF scenario and maybe nature should take it's course. My opinion obviously!
People say to stock regular meds. If its for epilepsy or heart conditions for example then great stock up. If its your average statins for high cholesterol then benefit and risk may come into play. Look at space for storage of such drugs and assess benefit and risk.
There is no point stocking up on advanced kit to save lives when you are doing it on your own and have never experienced the situation before. You may well have looked online at how to give injections and have the kit to do so but what are you giving? And why and when? You may have looked up how to suture but the risk of closing dirt or foreign body in a wound and causing more damage will hinder the secondary healing process whereas putting the spotlight on a really good cleanout of the wound and regular dressing changes with use of antispetic and pain relief is far more effective in my opinion.
Maybe the only thing to add would be steri strips fror wound closing but you could use small strips of tape. Tape is just as effective and allow the wound to leak, the bodies natural debridement and healing process.
It is all my opinion obviously but i add my opinion using experience and knowledge of seeing severe life threatening conditions down to less severe everyday wound and minor ailment management. The body (if fit and healthy to start with) will deal with whatever is thrown at it, the kit jus makes the wait more comfortable and aids the healing process. Recognition of a condition is the biggest problem. You may have all the kit but would you recognise when to use it?
I may have opened a can of worms...
