Episode 131 – Ultralight First Aid Kit Strategies

I learned a few weeks ago that the mini tube of superglue I carry in my med kit for large gashes can also repair a snapped fishing rod and keep my trip afloat.

Megan, sorry to hear that, it sounds rough!

A couple years back I crossed a bridge over a creek that had some boards rot out leaving behind a few nails sticking straight up.  I was worried someone might not see them and step on one or get impaled if they slipped so I grabbed a rock and started hammering them flat.

Of course I slipped and put a big gash in my forearm.    I always carry a few extra dried out baby wipes that I use for any dirty jobs that I don’t want to subject my buff or lightload towel to like blowing my nose (chronic issue), wiping down tent stakes, washing my cook bag, and many more.  Wrapping my arm in a few of these and holding them down with a small wrap of coflex from my med kit kept the bleeding under control until I could make it out.

I like these dried out wipes because they always get consumed and aren’t single use items in my kit that only get used in emergencies.  They also weight pretty much nothing.  I carry 1 per day +1

Bob: I use single use superglue rather than dermabond.  they aren’t as “pure” as dermabond and sometimes sting a bit, but work well enough.  I am pretty sure the last time I replenished my benzoin and hydrogel pads they were less than $5.  What sort of prices are you seeing?

FYI…I did just find somethings on the NOLS store: https://store.nols.edu/collections/first-aid-supplies

Including the Benzoin Tincture – 5 pack for $9.99

The other thing is to develop friends with EMTs / nurses in urgent care (hopefully not as a frequent patient)… sometimes a few items of a specific size might fall out of the back of the truck.

One of my housemates works in IR at the local hospital; I get most of my single-serving supplies from her, because a lot of the stuff that they pull for procedures literally has to be thrown away if it’s not used.  That seems wasteful – and it is – but it’s all for reasons of sterility; I don’t know the exact nature of the rules, but I understand the intent.

For those that don’t have a friend in healthcare: group purchases can really help out with things like benzoin and Dermabond…and I really do suggest using medical superglue over the standard stuff.  Normal superglue has some nasty stuff in it, but medical grade superglue…well, okay, it also has a lot of nasty stuff in it, but it’s safe nasty stuff according to people that know more about it than I do.

Moving on: here’s my quick list of stuff that I now carry that I didn’t expect to carry.

• Tick tools of some sort; preferably the twist-and-pull variety, because they’re not only easier to work with in thick hair or fur, but they seem to engender calm on the part of the person with the tick.  I’ve found that if I pull out some tweezers for anything, people tend to act like I’m holding a cutting torch; if I take out my cute lime green tick tool that looks kind of like a cartoon dinosaur and say “Oh, no worries, I have a tool for that!” they just kind of chill out and don’t even realize that they’re supposed to be panicking over getting a weird disease from the offending parasite.
• Kinesiology tape.  I don’t use it for what it’s intended to do – come to think of it, I’m not even sure what that is – but it’s a hell of a multi-use tape.  It’s the best blister-prevention layer I’ve ever found, it’ll bond to hair-covered skin pretty well, and the stretchy effect means that it’ll even hold a light compression dressing in place if need be.
• Dermabond, as mentioned earlier.  I carry a few single-use dispensers, plus an extra if I’m with my dog; it’s the best repair material I’ve found for injuries to high wear areas like fingers, palms, feet and paws.  It’ll also fix equipment, as someone else mentioned.
• The best band-aids I can find.  I’m all thumbs when it comes to putting them on, so I make sure I have backups.  Right now, I’m using some hydrocolloid dressing models that seem to work really well for most injuries and burns, and which stick like crazy…and I’m all about things being entirely too adhesive, because that means I don’t have to deal with getting another one out and trying to get it on someone’s finger (usually mine) without accidentally sticking it to itself and wasting it.
• Saline packets and an irrigation device.  Most of the injuries I’ve seen are both very minor and very dirty…so I try to have a way to gently pressure-irrigate them.  Syringe, modified SmartWater bottlecap, whatevs; doesn’t matter as long as it works.  I’ve seen too many stubbed/cut toes, torn paw pads, sliced-open-on-a-muddy-oyster-shell heels and scraped knees turn semi-nasty from infection to not try and clean them out as best possible when they happen.
• Sanitary/menstrual pad.  I can’t even tell you how many times one of these has come in useful.  Unexpected/early/heavy cycles, serious gashes that needed a big, absorbent dressing on them, or even a smaller cut that just needed something vaguely absorbent and non-adherent; they work for all of it.  It’s rumored that I once pulled out a panty liner for a WEMT that was working on an injured eye and needed something to pad it with.
• Cheap nitrile gloves.  Two pairs.  Weighs nothing and keeps the ick to a minimum.

I’m sure there are other things, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my list.  Most of them are pretty light and they’ve all been consistently useful, so I don’t see a reason to not carry them.

I’ve added some things that weren’t on the original list, like Steri-Strips in lieu of Dermabond.

I carry a few Steris as well, because they have a different use in my kit, compared to Derma.  Steris can pull a wound together and use tension on the skin surface to hold it closed, which Dermabond can’t do, and they can also be removed if needed.  Derma is great for linear cuts that need to be sealed up – hands, feet, paws – and that won’t require a dressing change.  Come to think of it: Derma isn’t always good for seeping wounds…but regardless, I’m glad some of my stuff helped you out.  I have a bunch of other items in the kit, but it’s probably the same stuff that everyone else carries – possibly excepting lightweight shears – so I didn’t go into any of that. 👍