Buy or build a Home First Aid Kit

[jansman]

One thing I highly recommend is steri- strips, or generic ‘wound - closure strips’. I got a smack on my bald head just before leaving work. It put a good old dent in there, and I said a rude word or two! I staunched the blood and slapped a plaster on.One of the other butchers said it really needed a stitch ( we know these things!) I’d been there long enough though! Anyhow Mrs J doused it with hydrogen peroxide and then applied two steri- strips. It saved me an awful wait in casualty after a days work!

[jennyjj01]

One thing I highly recommend is steri- strips, or generic ‘wound - closure strips’. I got a smack on my bald head just before leaving work. It put a good old dent in there, and I said a rude word or two! I staunched the blood and slapped a plaster on.One of the other butchers said it really needed a stitch ( we know these things!) I’d been there long enough though! Anyhow Mrs J doused it with hydrogen peroxide and then applied two steri- strips. It saved me an awful wait in casualty after a days work!

Absolutely seconded. And not just a small pack. There's a knack to using these and the first few will come unstuck if applied wrongly. So expect to waste some the first time you try. I probably use these more often than any other element in the first aid. You can 'stitch up' some pretty nasty looking skin wounds with these and even A&E are as likely to use these as they are to use sutures. Perfect for clean knife cuts in the kitchen, which I seem to keep discovering anew.

[jansman]

One thing I highly recommend is steri- strips, or generic ‘wound - closure strips’. I got a smack on my bald head just before leaving work. It put a good old dent in there, and I said a rude word or two! I staunched the blood and slapped a plaster on.One of the other butchers said it really needed a stitch ( we know these things!) I’d been there long enough though! Anyhow Mrs J doused it with hydrogen peroxide and then applied two steri- strips. It saved me an awful wait in casualty after a days work!

Absolutely seconded. And not just a small pack. There's a knack to using these and the first few will come unstuck if applied wrongly. So expect to waste some the first time you try. I probably use these more often than any other element in the first aid. You can 'stitch up' some pretty nasty looking skin wounds with these and even A&E are as likely to use these as they are to use sutures. Perfect for clean knife cuts in the kitchen, which I seem to keep discovering anew.

My wife recently had more post cancer surgery. The majority of her wounds were closed with steri- strips and glue. I reckon a dent on my bonce will be ok , patched up that way!

[Yorkshire Andy]

One thing I highly recommend is steri- strips, or generic ‘wound - closure strips’. I got a smack on my bald head just before leaving work. It put a good old dent in there, and I said a rude word or two! I staunched the blood and slapped a plaster on.One of the other butchers said it really needed a stitch ( we know these things!) I’d been there long enough though! Anyhow Mrs J doused it with hydrogen peroxide and then applied two steri- strips. It saved me an awful wait in casualty after a days work!

Absolutely seconded. And not just a small pack. There's a knack to using these and the first few will come unstuck if applied wrongly. So expect to waste some the first time you try. I probably use these more often than any other element in the first aid. You can 'stitch up' some pretty nasty looking skin wounds with these and even A&E are as likely to use these as they are to use sutures. Perfect for clean knife cuts in the kitchen, which I seem to keep discovering anew.

My wife recently had more post cancer surgery. The majority of her wounds were closed with steri- strips and glue. I reckon a dent on my bonce will be ok , patched up that way!

Remember stabbing myself in the leg and that was closed up with a fancy strip like those hypoallergenic plasters with little holes which they used glue to stick it in place

[GillyBee]

Quite a few years ago I was at a community picnic. One of the teens larking around managed to put his hand onto broken glass with his weight behind it. He came legging it over to where I was sitting with a nurse friend.
"That's nasty. I think it may need stitches" as she grabs some tissues and takes a look at the mess.
"Would steristrips help? I fish my mini first aid kit out of my bag which has a stip of steristrips tucked into it along with some extra large plasters and antiseptic wipes."
Dropped jaw from nurse. Trip to casualty averted. Teen patched up on the spot and my fate sealed as the person with the magic handbag........

[rik_uk3]

Get a good stock of this in place




With the broken glass wound that was mentioned, how did you flush the wound? Check for imbedded glass in the wound before potentially sealing the glass in the wound?

[GillyBee]

We had clean drinking water available in bottles. My friend is an ex A&E nurse and she was happy that the wound was clean before she patched it. Standard advice given about what to do if it got worse. She also knew she would be seeing the youngster again socially the next day so could doublecheck that the wound was settling down appropriately. If the wound had been any worse I am sure she would have advised a trip to A&E for probing, antibiotics etc.

[Le Mouse]

As the only first aider left in my office, I checked our first aid kits for the first time since before the pandemic and everything was hilariously out of date (which means the other two people who were also first aiders weren't doing their date checks as they were meant to ) So two massive first aid at work refill packs are ordered, hopefully to arrive before all the students appear at the weekend. I'm going to dig out my St John Ambulance book and give myself a quick revision session.

I still need to sort out my own home kit

[rik_uk3]

Out of date sterile dressing are fine so long as the packaging has not been compromised so don't worry too much about your home kit, certainly don't throw dressings out because of dates. Plasters need checking because some brands (usually cheap ones) tend to get less sticky over time.

Sorry it I've mentioned before but US department of defence test show the bulk of OTC tablet/capsule meds are good for some years past the UBD, five or more years, I'll try and dig out the list/link

[Yorkshire Andy]

As the only first aider left in my office, I checked our first aid kits for the first time since before the pandemic and everything was hilariously out of date (which means the other two people who were also first aiders weren't doing their date checks as they were meant to ) So two massive first aid at work refill packs are ordered, hopefully to arrive before all the students appear at the weekend. I'm going to dig out my St John Ambulance book and give myself a quick revision session.

I still need to sort out my own home kit

Did work order tye bsi refills the HSE refills are no longer recognised by the HSE ..

British red cross have a decent app with a test yourself section