After building my own FAK for years I used a gift card to buy a stocked store bought med kit for EDC. Money was no object but what was included was considered. Knowing I already have a good deal of medical supplies I can port over, I chose a modest medical kit, the AMK Ultralight .7 and thought I'd pose the question to this forum.

Here is the contents of the AMK. Using the constraints of the pouch size, what would you add if this was your kit. Have some fun.


CONTENTS
2..... Aloksak®
1..... Splinter Picker Tweezers
1..... Duct Tape
3..... Safety Pins
8..... Motrin®
2..... Antihistamine
2..... After Bite® Sting Relief
CPR / BLEEDING ITEMS
2..... Nitrile Examination Gloves
WOUND CARE / BURN / BLISTER
4..... 3X3 Sterile Dressings
4..... 2x2 Sterile Dressings
2..... Non-Adherent Sterile Dressing (3x4)
1..... Conforming Gauze Bandage
3..... Butterfly Closure Bandage
5..... After Cuts & Scrapes® Towelettes
4..... 1x3 Adhesive Bandage
3..... Knuckle Adhesive Bandage
1..... Tape 1" x 10 Yards
1..... Swift Wrap Elastic Bandage
1..... Moleskin (7x4)
1..... Tincture of Benzoin
4..... Antibiotic Ointment

A good mental exercise. Have fun.

"Using the constraints of the pouch size"
Aspirin:
For heart attack victims(Myocardial infarction), have them chew 1 tablet for about half a minute and then swallow it. Aspirin prevents blood clotting and can help a heart attack victim. Don't give aspirin if you are trying to control a bleed.
It is unlikely to do any harm if you are wrong.

Sweets:
For diabetics, if they are short of sugar it helps and if they have to much sugar it does no harm to them in first aid.
The sugar can be in candy, granular or liquid form. Syrups or juices are the safest because they are hard to choke on, but
restaurant size packages of granulated sugar or jams are convenient.
(Never even think about giving insulin because it could be lethal, especially if they are slipping into coma. If they have insulin, are concious and need it you may assist them but this is one thing that implied consent does not cover.)
A cheap small watch for timing their pulse and a small pencil+notebook for writing down the time when you checked their vital signs.
(you might want to know how they are changing over time, so you can tell if their condition is getting better or worse.)

Special items for yourself or other people in your party:
This depends upon the medical conditions of your traveling companions. For example a person with serious allergic responses might need an EpiPen.
Related to this are special items for location. You might want a suction cup type snakebite kit in the desert areas. They make pretty small versions of them now.

You might be able to fit a small magnifying glass for splinter hunting, a better set of tweezers and some small bandage scissors in that small bag too.

- Three feet of rubber tubing.
- A blood coagulator sponge/powder (like celox)
- Electrolyte drink mix powder (like gatorade) for hypoglycemia & hyponatremia
- Sun screen/Insect repellent
- Syringe w/ plastic tip for irrigating wounds (wash out debris)
- Epi-pen (if you can get one)
- Peppy pills (caffeine or similar like vivarin)

I have rubber tubing as a substitute for a tourniquet. They use a similar device when taking blood. It flexes and thus does not completely occlude blood flow (the danger of tourniquets) but the partial constriction reduces blood loss.

Flexible rubber tubing and peppy pills are Cody Lundin tricks for more than just first aid applications. You can also use tubing for: building a sling-shot, as a straw to drink water from small puddle, siphon, water distilling, etc.

Money no object, eh?

Arc AAA, Leatherman Squirt S4, Peanut Lighter and a bunch of cotton balls. How's that for a FAK?

Also since you seem to be going hi tech, a 2" long section of a SAM splint could be nice.

I disagree on stocking an epipen in your FAK. First you need a prescription to get one, and if you don't have an allergy the supervising doc would have to be a little skewed to give one to you. The only folks I know who stock epipens are WFA trained folks with a known standard of medical care, and they would apply in the field as a last resort. If someone has an allergic reaction, it may be their first time (bad luck) or they have a known allergy, and they should have an epipen on their person, and let you know about it. And unless you get to them late, they should be conscious enough to self-administer. Finally, the whole point of epipen is to temporarily stop the histamine reaction (restricting airway, breathing, swallowing), long enough to adminster antihistamines aka benadryl. Having one or several types of benadryl (liquid or > melt on tongue type) may do better than stocking an epipen, only to have the histamine reaction come back in 20-30 minutes after injection. Best - epipen, followed by benadryl. And always, prepare to evac for better medical care as soon as the person can be moved.

I grok the impulse to have an epipen just in case. I don't hike with people with allergies that require them, if they leave their epipen at home. Its the 11th essential for those so inflicted.

Excellent points, all. Please continue.

For the matter of epi-pen. DW is allergic to Bee's & does carry one as part of her FAK.

I have tubing in my car BOB, didn't consider it for FAK.

Plan on several additional 'single serving' packets from my current FAK. Such as Benadryl, tylenol, pepto, lactaid pills.

I have seriously considered a small irrigation syringe. Any third motions on that?

Ouch - hold on! If we're talking immediate care there's no need to run safety pins through a wound, causing pain and and risking infection. And besides, there are better alternatives - pack a wound kit with steri-strips like this one, http://www.nols.edu/store/product.php?productid=16259&cat=256&bestseller. I guarantee that if you have to close a wound, the wounded person will thank you.

A good exercise.

Add;

more meds, particularly peto bismols
small light (coin type with off switch taped off)
bic mini-lighter
small folding knife
chap-stick with sunscreen -

Assumed that you carry a tiny bottle of alcohol hand sanitizer elsewhere.

Teacher

PS most of what I use in my kit is ibuprofen and band-aids.

Hey Teacher thanks.

What your describing other than the pepto, is already in a separate EDC kit. Though I think it might be a good idea to include a coin light in my FAK.

@NightHiker. OUTSTANDING.

Whatever floats your boat I guess. If a wound is too big for steri-strips (and duct tape) then I hope to be transported to a hospital before I pull a Rambo to sew it up (which always seemed like a really cool movie scene to me). I would pack the wound with gauze before I attempt to close a wound that big.