First Aid Emergency Kit

We beat this one to death last year: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=91019

Though used ibuprofen is a new twist…

My approach in teaching back country safety/first aid is;

Everything in your pack can be used to render first aid to yourself or a fellow hiker so, lets learn how to use it.

If you are needing aid in a true emergency, I'm using your stuff first, because it will be going off trail with you and, I need my stuff for me.

So, what's in your pack?

I subscribe to the classic ten essentials:

First aid kit: AMK 0.3 kit with added meds and larger compresses, Uncle Bills tweezers

Lighting: Fenix HL21 headlamp and Olight i2 flashlight, both using single AA batteries

Fire starting: mini bic lighter (daily use), Exotac firesteel, K&M match case with UCO storm matches and built-in mini compass, Bison Designs "spy capsule" with Tinder Quick tabs

Knife: 3.5" folder like a Benchmade Griptilian or SAK One Hand Trekker, plus SAK Classic

Compass: Suunto MC-2G with mirror (and maps)

Signalling: whistle, compass mirror, flashlight, firesteel

Sunglasses: Native Dash XP

Rain gear: poncho or jacket, pants

Spare clothing: gloves, beanie, top insulation layer, windshirt, bandana, spare socks

Repair and improvising: braided nylon line, light wire, "hotel freebie" sewing kit, single use super glue, duct tape

Water bottle: Nalgene Oasis canteen or recycled water bottles

Water treatment: Sawyer Mini and Micro Pur tablets for backup

Shelter: AMK Heatsheets Bivy

Sunscreen, small vial

Spare food: granola bars, hard candy

Insect repellent: DEET, small vial

Backup plan: notifying a trusted person where I am going and establishing a contact deadline.

FAK:
Band-Aids, narrow & wide
Micro-pore surgical tape
Scalpel blade in wrapper
plus
Handkerchief
Toilet paper

and above all else
BRAINS!

Cheers

I carry a pretty minimal kit but here it goes: a few ibreprofrin, a few Imodium, a couple of Benadryl (all in micro button ziplocs), a few pieces of pre cut luekotape on label sheets, a single use neosporin, a single use tube of super glue, two band aids, a safety pin, and an ampule of tencure of benzoin all in a small heavy duty ziploc style bag (with lots of duct tape patches)

Everyone love those Bill's tweezers. Do you all prefer the little storage tube or the metal thing option? i got the tube as I was concerned about them getting squeezed and released with the metal storage thing and wreaking havoc with those super sharp tips.

Tweezers – most critical item in cactus country

Omnifix tape – most frequently used item – better than Leukotape for hotspots, secures bandaids or larger dressings.

Alcohol swabs, antibiotic ointment, bandaids

Ibuprofen
Loperamide
Diphenhydramine
Hydrocortisone gel
Azithromycin (prescribed by GP for emergency backcountry use)

Wound kit: Pov-I swabs, benzoin, steri-strips, tegaderm, non-stick pads, Woundseal (clotting agent), superglue.

I've used everything else.

In truth I need to practice taping awkward spots on feet. I honestly don't know if I could pull of a good job. Never (knock on wood) had blisters. For overnight trips I carry a 24hr max dose supply of all meds.

Vitamin Ibuprophen

FAK:
Loratadine
acetaminophen
naproxen
cortisone cream
hydrocolloid dressing x1
quick clot dressing x1
>1m of leuko tape
>1m of kinisio tape
razor blades

Repairs:
x4 4cm strips of ripstop tape
silfix kit (could be whittled down)
needles
thread
floss

Fire:
vaseline coated cotton balls stuffed into straws
spare, new lighter

Other:
small, loud whistle

I like the steristrips that people are bringing, have to see if I can find those in Japan.

Anybody else just leave bandaids behind?
For me they peel off too quick and I end up just using gauze/sterile dressings (mesh cloth, not sure of the right English word) and fix it with either kinesiology tape that I bring anyway, or some duct tape.

Another question, do people bring wound cleaning liquid like Sterilon or Bethadin? Or do you only bring alcoholic/bethadin wipes?

> do people bring wound cleaning liquid like Sterilon or Bethadin?
Nope. Tends to do more damage to the open wound than anything else.

Cheers

Ken, for my Uncle Bill's I cut a short segment of a drinking straw, folded it in half the same way the tweezers are, and the two sharp points of the tweezers slide into the two open ends of the straw segment. Protects the tips, doesn't compress the tool, lightest weight.

"Anybody else just leave bandaids behind?"
Mostly, though a couple have snuck in for the sake of convenience. Athletic tape will generally fix anything a bandaid will.

I call mine my "emergency kit", too, rather than a FAK.
Right now, there's a roll each of gauze and athletic tape, an ACE bandage, and some 2×3 pads.
Spare headlamp battery, repair tape, half a dozen Micropur tabs, antichafe, couple of Bandaids, chapstick, mini-Bic, and 10ft of 2mm cord that comes in handy for "bear-bagging" where rodents are the only concern, clothes line for drying gear, etc.
Keyring with Arc AAA-P flashlight, whistle, and Victorinox Classic.

What's been used:
All of it except the Micropur tabs and gauze, at one time or another.
Most commonly the athletic tape for hotspots or blisters, but none of it in the last several months until this week. Did 16.5 miles on day 1 with a friend who hadn't hiked in some time, while I was wearing new shoes straight out of the box, and we each had to drain and tape a blister.

Ken:
As you can see there is a small tab on the metal clip that aligns with the hole on the tweezers. It works quit well. I had the tube and lost it. These I have a pair on my keys and a pair attached to my knife on a neck lanyard.
Good tweezers, though I understand that they're stamped out and sometimes thr ends need dressing up. I've had 3 pairs and haven't had a problem. Tweezers with metal clip ~ 6grams.
I appreciate all the replies. I know in many ways I've just been lucky all these years and first aid is usually my last thought.
I find band aids worthless. Good cloth medical tape or even duct tape works for wounds and blisters. Duct tape a bit hard to remove. I've used medical tape in place of gloves at work. Much cooler just to tape the hot spots.

I have three trauma kits and a milspec IFAK I can put my hands on in less than a minute from where I'm sitting right now. BVMs, cat tourniquets, Israeli bandages, occlusive dressing, and everything you'd likely need to treat a GSW to injuries sustained in a velociraptor attack. 99.9% of the stuff I encounter is resolved with a bandaid, ibuprofen, or Benadryl. I'm not suggesting that anyone should limit their FAK to those three items, but I certainly wouldn't exclude any of them either.

It was these tweezers that I used to remove a tick last week, when I could't get the tick to stay slotted in a Tick Key.

I carry mine in a tiny folded-over piece of foam with a rubber band around it. That's enough to prevent it from poking through an aloksak or cuben ditty bag.

> everything you'd likely need to treat a GSW to injuries sustained in a velociraptor attack

Overkill for me. I always bring a velociraptor-proof shelter.

"Overkill for me. I always bring a velociraptor-proof shelter."

Andy, you seem to be a great guy and I greatly appreciate your sense of humor. I find it sad that we can never hike together as our conversations would sooner or later be overheard by another hiker, they would call the appropriate authorities, and we'd find ourselves involuntarily committed to the funny farm.

Likewise, Ian. At least we'd be prepared for the funny farm with our emergency gear. Come to think of it, I'm adding a tinfoil hat.

Waiting for Nathan to come out with a cuben version.
Not sure what a bandaid is good for that tape isn't better at. They just end up holding in dirt.

Jurassic Park IV trailer:

Hiker cowers inside his Bearikade Cretacean, a giant carbon fiber dinosaur-proof cylinder.
In the darkness outside, velociraptors are rifling through his gear; then a "chink" as a quarter falls out of his pack.
A velociraptor peers closely at the quarter, then looks at the Bearikade, then back at the quarter, a camera closeup showing its eye moving and refocusing.
The velociraptor grasps the quarter between its delicate front claws, and moves toward the Bearikade…

"Not sure what a bandaid is good for that tape isn't better at. They just end up holding in dirt."

Ummm… how often are you changing your bandages?

Tape and gauze
Band-Aid or MYO? Essentially the same thing except for the convience of a sterile single use package. Where's that tape been. What's in that roll of gaze that you've been hauling around for years?

"Not sure what a bandaid is good for that tape isn't better at. They just end up holding in dirt."

Ummm… how often are you changing your bandages?""

Everytime they fall off. Bandaids are for booboo's. A placebo for the grandkids.

I don't claim to be a medical expert. There are others on here, like Dean, who are.

I did spend a few years in EMS, and with my current job, I receive some trauma related training from time to time. My ambulance was also staged at Chelsea piers and rotated into the middle of Ground Zero on 9/14. The mission was transitioning from rescue to recovery at that time. In 24 hours of supporting FDNY and other rescue workers who were scrambling through the debris, the only "first aid" I performed was giving one of the workers a bandaid.

I couldn't care less if you have a bandaid in your FAK but in my experience, most injuries are just booboos and band aids are a perfectly acceptable and aseptic method to protect it.

Edit: I like it Ralph. Production starts Monday,